Optical fiber waveguides

Lect_3
Optical fiber
4th year, Elect. Eng. Dept., ECE
Lecturer: Dr. Emad Tammam
 Outline

• Cylindrical fiber modes

• Graded-index fiber

• Step-index fiber

• Single-mode fiber

• Photonic crystal fibers

 Cylindrical fiber modes
• TE (where Ez = 0) and TM (where Hz = 0) modes are obtained
within the dielectric cylinder.
• The cylindrical waveguide is bounded in two dimensions
rather than one. Thus two integers, l and m, are necessary in
order to specify the modes, in contrast to the single integer
(m) required for the planar guide.
• For the cylindrical waveguide we refer to TElm and TMlm
modes. These modes correspond to meridional rays
traveling within the fiber.
• Hybrid modes where Ez and Hz are nonzero also occur.
These modes, result from skew ray propagation within
the fiber, are designated HElm and EHlm depending upon
whether the components of H or E make the larger
contribution to the transverse field.
• An exact description of the modal fields in a step index fiber
proves somewhat complicated.
 Linearly polarized (LP) modes
• The weakly guiding approximation where the relative
index difference Δ << 1.
• Δ is usually less than 0.03 (3%) for optical
communications fibers.
• Approximate solutions for the full set of HE, EH, TE
and TM modes may be given by two linearly polarized
components.
• As Δ in weakly guiding fibers is very small, then HE–EH
mode pairs occur which have almost identical
propagation constants.
• Such modes are said to be degenerate. The
superpositions of these degenerating modes
characterized by a common propagation constant
correspond to particular LP modes regardless of their
HE, EH, TE or TM field configurations.
 Correspondence between the linearly polarized
modes and the traditional exact modes from which
they are formed
• There are in general 2l field maxima around
the circumference of the fiber core and m field
maxima along a radius vector.
The electric field configurations for the three
lowest LP modes
• The scalar wave equation can be written in the
form

• where ψ is the field (E or H)

• The propagation constants of the guided modes β
lie in the range:
 The normalized frequency
• The normalized frequency V is given as:
cladding decay
• parameter

radial propagation
constant

• The normalized frequency is a dimensionless

parameter.
• Sometimes simply called the V number or value of the
fiber.
• It combines the information about three important
design variables for the fiber: namely, the core radius
a, the relative refractive index difference Δ and the
operating wavelength λ.
 The normalized propagation constant
• It is also possible to define the normalized
propagation constant b for a fiber as

• The limits of β are n2 k and n1 k, hence b must lie

between 0 and 1.
 Guided and unguided modes
• When β = n2k, then the mode phase velocity is
equal to the velocity of light in the cladding and
the mode is no longer properly guided.
• In this case the mode is said to be cut off and the
eigenvalue W = 0.
• Unguided or radiation modes have frequencies
below cutoff where β < kn2 , and hence W is
imaginary.
• As β is increased above n2k, less power is
propagated in the cladding until at β = n1k all the
power is confined to the fiber core.
 The cutoff normalized frequency
• The cutoff point for a particular mode corresponds
to a distinctive value of the normalized frequency
(where V = Vc ) for the fiber.
• The value of Vc is different for different modes.
Distinctive light intensity distributions (mode
patterns)
Step index fibers
 Step index multimode fibers
• In the step index, the refractive index distribution
is constant in each region, i.e., core and cladding.

• In multimode, the core diameter has to be large

enough to allow the propagation of many modes.
• With multimode step index fiber considerable
dispersion may occur due to the differing group
velocities of the propagating modes.
• The maximum bandwidth attainable is restricted
in the case of multimode step index fibers.
 Single-mode step index fiber
• The single-mode (monomode) step index fiber
allows the propagation of only one transverse
electromagnetic mode (typically HE11 ), and
hence the core diameter must be of the order of 2
to 10 μm.

• The single-mode step index fiber has the distinct

advantage of low intermodal dispersion
(broadening of transmitted light pulses).
 Advantages of multimode over single-mode fibers
• For lower bandwidth applications multimode
fibers have several advantages over single-mode
fibers. These are:
 Use of spatially incoherent optical sources
(e.g. most light-emitting diodes) which cannot
be efficiently coupled to single-mode fibers;
 Larger numerical apertures, as well as core
diameters, facilitating easier coupling to optical
sources;
Lower tolerance requirements on fiber
connectors.
 Modes over the multimode fiber
• Multimode step index fibers allow the propagation
of a finite number of guided modes.
• The number of guided modes is dependent
upon the physical parameters such as:
 Relative refractive index difference,
 Core radius of the fiber,
 Wavelengths of the transmitted light.
• There is a cutoff value of normalized frequency Vc
for guided modes below which they cannot
exist.
 Modes over the multimode fiber, cont.
• Unguided (leaky) modes can travel considerable
distances along the fiber.
• Guided modes are confined to the fiber over its
full length.
• The total number of guided modes or mode
volume Ms for a step index fiber

• The optical power is launched into a large

number of guided modes, each of different
spatial field distributions, propagation
constants, etc.
 Characteristics of ideal multimode fiber
 Ideal multimode step index fiber with properties (i.e.
relative index difference, core diameter) which are independent of
distance.
 There is no mode coupling, and the optical power
launched into a particular mode remains in that mode
and travels independently of the power launched into
the other guided modes.
 The majority of these guided modes operate far from
cutoff, and are well confined to the fiber core
 Most of the optical power is carried in the core
region and not in the cladding.
 The properties of the cladding (e.g. thickness) do
not significantly affect the propagation of these
modes.
 Graded index fibers
• Do not have a constant refractive index in the core
but a decreasing core index n(r) with radial
distance from a maximum value of n1 at the axis to
a constant value n2 beyond the core radius a in
the cladding.
Fiber refractive index profiles for different
values of α
Refractive index profile and ray transmission in a multimode
graded index fiber

parabolic index profile core

 Characteristics of Multimode graded index fibers

• Multimode graded index fibers exhibit far less

intermodal dispersion than multimode step
index fibers due to their refractive index
profile.
• The different group velocities of the modes tend
to be normalized by the index grading.
• The near axial rays are transmitted through a
region of higher refractive index and therefore
travel with a lower velocity than the more extreme
rays.
Refraction in the graded index fiber
 Dispersion in the case of skew rays
• These travel in the lower index region at greater
speeds giving the same mechanism of mode transit
time equalization.
• Multimode graded index fibers with parabolic
profile cores have transmission bandwidths be
orders of magnitude greater than multimode step
index fiber bandwidths.BW of MG>BW of MS
• Multimode graded index fibers have the
advantage of large core diameters (greater than
30 μm) coupled with bandwidths suitable for
long distance communication.
• The numerical aperture of the graded index is a
function of the radial distance from the fiber
axis. So, the comparison with the step index is
complicated.

• Graded index fibers accept less light than

corresponding step index fibers with the same
relative refractive index difference.
 Single-mode fibers
• The advantage of the propagation of a single mode is
that the signal dispersion may be avoided.
• For the transmission of a single mode, the fiber must
be designed to allow propagation of only one mode.
• For single-mode operation, only the fundamental
LP01 mode can exist.
• The limit of single-mode operation depends on the
lower limit of guided propagation for the LP11 mode.
• The cutoff normalized frequency for the LP11 mode in
step index fibers occurs at Vc = 2.405.
• Single-mode propagation of the LP01 mode in step
index fibers is possible over the range:
• There is no cutoff for the fundamental mode.
 Adjusting the normalized frequency
• The normalized frequency for the fiber may be
adjusted to within the range given by:
 Reduction of the core radius,
 Reduction of the relative refractive index
difference which, for single-mode fibers, is
usually less than 1%.
• The small core diameters pose problems with
launching light into the fiber and with field
jointing.
• The reduced relative refractive index difference
presents difficulties in the fiber fabrication
process.
 Graded index single-mode fibers

• Graded index fibers may also be designed for

single-mode operation.
• The cutoff value of normalized frequency Vc to
support a single mode in a graded index fiber is
given by:

• It is possible to determine the fiber parameters

which give single-mode operation.
 Single-mode gradded index vs single-
mode step index
• The critical value of normalized frequency for the parabolic
profile graded index fiber is increased by a factor of √2 on
the step index case.
• The diameter of graded index fiber increased by a similar
factor over a step index fiber with the equivalent core
refractive index (equivalent to the core axis index) and the
same relative refractive index difference.
• The maximum V number which permits single-mode
operation can be increased when a graded index fiber with
a triangular profile is employed.
• The increase in this case is by a factor of √3 over a
comparable step index fiber. Hence, significantly larger core
diameter single-mode fibers may be produced utilizing this
index profile.
The refractive index profile for a
single-mode W fiber
 Mode propagation in cladding
• A problem with single-mode fibers with low
relative refractive index differences and low V values
is that the electromagnetic field associated with the
LP10 mode extends appreciably into the cladding.
• With V values less than 1.4, over half the modal
power propagates in the cladding.
• The exponentially decaying evanescent field may
extend significant distances into the cladding.
• It is essential that the cladding is of a suitable
thickness, and has low absorption and scattering
losses in order to reduce attenuation of the mode.
• The necessary cladding thickness is of the order of
50 μm to avoid prohibitive losses (greater than 1
dB km−1 ) in single-mode fibers.
 Single-mode W fiber
• Another approach to single-mode fiber design
which allows the V value to be increased above
2.405 is the W fiber
• Two cladding regions are used. Use of such
two-step cladding allows the loss threshold
between the desirable and undesirable modes to
be substantially increased.
• Fundamental mode will be fully supported with
small cladding loss when its propagation constant
lies in the range kn3 < β < kn1 .
 Single-mode W fiber, cont.
• If the undesirable higher order modes are excited
or converted to have values of propagation
constant β < kn3 , they will leak through the
barrier layer between a1 and a2 into the outer
cladding region n3.
• These modes will lose power by radiation into the
lossy surroundings.
• This design can provide single-mode fibers with
larger core diameters than can the conventional
single-cladding approach which proves useful for
easing jointing difficulties.
• W fibers tend to give reduced losses at bends in
comparison with conventional single-mode fibers.
 Which fiber type has been utilized firstly?
• Following the emergence of single-mode fibers as
a viable communication medium in 1983, they
quickly became the dominant and the most
widely used fiber type within telecommunications.

• Multimode fibers are still finding significant use

within more localized communications (e.g. for
short data links and on-board automobile/aircraft
applications).
Why the single-mode fiber is most widely used

• They exhibit the greatest transmission bandwidths

and the lowest losses.
• They have a superior transmission quality because
of the absence of modal noise.
• They offer a substantial upgrade capability for future
wide bandwidth services using either faster optical
transmitters and receivers or advanced transmission
techniques.
• They are compatible with the developing integrated
optics technology.
• It will not require replacement over its anticipated
lifetime of more than 20 years.
 Matched-cladding (MC) and depressed-
cladding (DC) fibers
• The fibers are either of MC or DC design.

• In the conventional MC fibers, the region external

to the core has a constant uniform refractive index
which is slightly lower than the core region,
typically consisting of pure silica.

• In the DC fibers, the cladding region immediately

adjacent to the core is of a lower refractive index
than that of an outer cladding region.
Single-mode fiber step index profiles optimized for
operation at a wavelength of 1.3 μm
 Cutoff wavelength
• Single-mode operation only occurs above a theoretical
cutoff wavelength λc given by:

• Where Vc is the cutoff normalized frequency. Hence λc

is the wavelength above which a particular fiber
becomes single-moded.

• Practical transmission systems are generally operated

close to the effective cutoff wavelength in order to
enhance the fundamental mode confinement, but
sufficiently distant from cutoff so that no power is
transmitted in the second-order LP11 mode.
 Mode-field diameter and spot size
• Many properties of the fundamental mode are determined
by the radial extent of its electromagnetic field.
• MFD is an important parameter for characterizing single-
mode fiber properties which takes into account the
wavelength-dependent field penetration into the fiber
cladding.
• For step index and graded (near parabolic profile) single-
mode fibers operating near the cutoff wavelength λc, the
field is well approximated by a Gaussian distribution
• MFD is taken as the distance between the opposite 1/e =
0.37
• Field amplitude points and the power 1/e2 = 0.135 points in
relation to the corresponding values on the fiber axis.
Field amplitude distribution E(r) of the fundamental
mode in a single-mode fiber illustrating the mode-
field diameter (MFD) and spot size (ω0 )
 Spot size (or mode-field radius) ω0
• MFD = 2ω0 , where ω0 is the nominal half width of
the input excitation.
• The MFD can therefore be regarded as the single-
mode analog of the fiber core diameter in
multimode fibers.
• For real fibers and those with arbitrary refractive
index profiles, the radial field distribution is not
strictly Gaussian and hence alternative techniques
have been proposed.
• The problem of defining the MFD and spot size
for non-Gaussian field distributions is a difficult
one and at least eight definitions exist.
 Effective refractive index
• The phase propagation constant β of a mode is
given as
• Effective refractive index for single-mode fiber,
sometimes referred to as a phase index or
normalized phase change coefficient neff, is
defined by the ratio of the propagation constant
of the fundamental mode to that of the vacuum
propagation constant

• The wavelength of the fundamental mode λ01 is

smaller than the vacuum wavelength λ by the
factor 1/neff where:
 Effective refractive index, cont.
• For a medium with a refractive index n(r), the effective
refractive index can be considered as an average over the
refractive index of this medium.
• At long wavelengths (i.e. small V values) the MFD is large
compared to the core diameter and the electric field
extends far into the cladding region. the propagation
constant β will be approximately equal to n2 k and the
effective index will be similar to the refractive index of the
cladding n2 . Physically, most of the power is transmitted in
the cladding material.
• At short wavelengths, the field is concentrated in the core
region and the propagation constant β approximates to the
maximum wave number n1k.
• The propagation constant in single-mode fiber varies over
the interval n2 k < β < n1 k. Hence, the effective refractive
index will vary over the range n2 < neff < n1 .
Relationship between the effective refractive
index and normalized propagation constant b
• The dimensionless parameter b which varies
between 0 and 1 is particularly useful in the theory
of single-mode fibers because the relative
refractive index difference is very small, giving
only a small range for β.
• It allows a simple graphical representation of
results to be presented as illustrated by the
characteristic of the normalized phase constant of
β as a function of normalized frequency V in a step
index fiber.
• It should also be noted that b(V) is a universal
function which does not depend explicitly on
other fiber parameters
 The normalized propagation constant (b) of the
fundamental mode in a step index fiber as a function
of the normalized frequency (V)
 Group delay and mode delay factor
• The group delay τg for a light pulse propagating
along a unit length of fiber is the inverse of the
group velocity υg

• The group index of a uniform plane wave

propagating in a homogeneous medium has
been determined as:
• For a single-mode fiber, it is usual to define an
effective group index Nge

where υg is considered to be the group velocity of

the fundamental fiber mode.
• The specific group delay of the fundamental fiber
mode becomes:

• The effective group index may be written in terms

of the effective refractive index neff

• β may be expressed in terms of the relative index

difference Δ and the normalized propagation
constant as
• Approximating the relative refractive index
difference as (n1 − n2 )/n2 , for a weakly guiding
fiber where Δ << 1,
• where N g1 and N g2 are the group indices for the
fiber core and cladding regions respectively.
• The group delay per unit distance as:

• The dispersive properties of the fiber core and the

cladding are often about the same and therefore
the wavelength dependence of Δ can be ignored
• The initial term in the last equation gives the
dependence of the group delay on wavelength
caused when a uniform plane wave is propagating
in an infinitely extended medium with a refractive
index which is equivalent to that of the fiber
cladding.
• The second term results from the waveguiding
properties of the fiber only and is determined
by the mode delay factor d(Vb)/dV, which
describes the change in group delay caused by the
changes in power distribution between the fiber
core and cladding
The mode delay factor (d(Vb)/dV) for the fundamental
mode in a step index fiber shown as a function of
normalized frequency (V)
 Photonic crystal fibers
• A new class of microstructured optical fiber
containing a fine array of air holes running
longitudinally down the fiber cladding.
• The microstructure within the fiber is often
highly periodic due to the fabrication process,
these fibers are usually referred to as photonic
crystal fibers (PCFs), or sometimes just as holey
fibers.
• In PCFs two distinct guidance mechanisms arise
• The guided modes can be trapped in a fiber core
which exhibits a higher average index than the
cladding containing the air holes by an effect similar
to total internal reflection, alternatively they may be
trapped in a core of either higher, or indeed lower,
average index by a photonic bandgap effect.
 Photonic crystal fibers, cont.
• PCFs have been used to realize various optical
components and devices including long period gratings,
multimode interference power splitters, tunable coupled
cavity fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, multichannel add/drop
filters, wavelength converters and wavelength
demultiplexers.
• A crucial issue with PCFs has been the reduction in overall
transmission losses which were initially several hundred
decibels per kilometer even with the most
straightforward designs.
• Increased control over the homogeneity of the fiber
structures together with the use of highly purified silicon as
the base material has now lowered these losses to a level
of a very few decibels per kilometer for most PCF types,
with a loss of just 0.3 dB km−1 at 1.55 μm for a 100 km span
being recently reported
 Index-guided microstructures
• There is greater index contrast since the cladding
contains air holes with a refractive index of 1 in
comparison with the normal silica cladding index of
1.457 which is close to the germanium-doped core
index of 1.462.
• A fundamental physical difference between index-
guided PCFs and conventional fibers arises from the
manner in which the guided mode interacts with the
cladding region.
• In a conventional fiber this interaction is largely first
order and independent of wavelength, the large
index contrast combined with the small structure
dimensions cause the effective cladding index to be a
strong function of wavelength.
• For short wavelengths the effective cladding
index is only slightly lower than the core index
and hence they remain tightly confined to the
core.
• At longer wavelengths the mode samples
more of the cladding and the effective index
contrast is larger.
• The high index contrast enables the PCF core to
be reduced from around 8 μm in conventional
fiber to less than 1 μm, which increases the
intensity of the light in the core and enhances the
nonlinear effects.
 Two index-guided photonic crystal fiber structures
• The dark areas are air holes while the white areas
are silica.
• The hole diameter d and hole to hole spacing or
pitch Λ are critical design parameters used to
specify the structure of the PCF.
• In a silica PCF with the structure depicted in Figure
2.37(a) when the air fill fraction is low (i.e. d/Λ < 0.4),
then the fiber can be single-moded at all
wavelengths.
• This property is particularly significant for
broadband applications such as wavelength division
multiplexed transmission.
• When the holey region covers more than 20% of
the fiber cross-section, index-guided PCFs display
an interesting range of dispersive properties
which could find application as dispersion-
compensating or dispersion-controlling fiber
components.
• In such fibers it is possible to produce very high
optical nonlinearity per unit length in which
modest light intensities can induce substantial
nonlinear effects.

• Filling the cladding holes with polymers or

liquid crystals allows external fields to be used to
dynamically vary the fiber properties.

• The temperature sensitivity of a polymer within

the cladding holes may be employed to tune
a Bragg grating written into the core.
• Index-guided PCFs with small holes and large hole spacings
provide very large mode area (and hence low optical
nonlinearities) and have potential applications in high-
power delivery (e.g. laser welding and machining) as well as
high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers.
• The large index contrast between silica and air enables
production of such PCFs with large multimoded cores which
also have very high numerical aperture values (greater than
0.7).
• These fibers are useful for the collection and transmission
of high optical powers in situations where signal distortion
is not an issue.
• Finally, it is apparent that PCFs can be readily spliced
to conventional fibers, thus enabling their integration
with existing components and subsystems.
 Photonic bandgap (PBG) fibers
• A class of microstructured fiber in which a periodic
arrangement of air holes is required to ensure
guidance.
• As a PBG fiber exhibits a two-dimensional bandgap,
then wavelengths within this bandgap cannot
propagate perpendicular to the fiber axis (i.e. in the
cladding) and they can therefore be confined to
propagate within a region in which the refractive
index is lower than the surrounding material.
• Utilizing the photonic bandgap effect light can be
guided within a low-index, air-filled core region
creating fiber properties quite different from those
obtained without the bandgap.
 Photonic bandgap (PBG) fibers, cont.
• PBG fibers can also guide light in regions with
higher refractive index, it is the lower index region
guidance feature which is of particular interest.

• While index-guiding fibers usually have a guided

mode at all wavelengths, PBG fibers only guide
in certain wavelength bands, and furthermore it is
possible to have wavelengths at which higher
order modes are guided while the fundamental
mode is not.
 Photonic bandgap (PBG) fiber structures
• The dark areas are air (lower refractive index) and
the lighter area is the higher refractive index
• The honeycomb fiber design was the first PBG fiber to
be experimentally realized in 1998.
• A triangular array of air holes of sufficient size provides
for the possibility of guiding electromagnetic modes in
air.
• In this case a large hollow core has been defined by
removing the silica around seven air holes in the
center of the structure.
• These fibers, which are termed air-guiding or hollow-
core PBG fibers, enable more than 98% of the guided
mode field energy to propagate in the air regions.
• Such air-guiding fibers provide an environment in
which optical propagation can take place with little
attenuation.
• The localization of light in the air core
removes the limitations caused by material
absorption losses.
• The fabrication of hollow-core fiber with low
propagation losses, has proved to be quite
difficult, with losses of the order of 13 dB km−1.
• Moreover, the fibers tend to be highly dispersive
with narrow transmission windows.
• While single-mode operation is possible, it is not
as straightforward to achieve in comparison with
index-guiding PCFs.
 Nanostructure core fiber
• More recently, the fabrication and characterization of a new
type of solid silica-based photonic crystal fiber which guides
light using the PBG mechanism has been reported
• This fiber employed a two-dimensional periodic array of
germanium-doped rods in the core region. It was therefore
referred to as a nanostructure core fiber and exhibited a
minimum attenuation of 2.6 dB km−1 at a wavelength of 1.59
μm.
• The fiber displayed greater bending sensitivity than
conventional single-mode fiber as a result of the much smaller
index difference between the core and the leaky modes which
could provide for potential applications in the optical sensing of
curvature and stress.
• The all-solid silica structure would facilitate fiber fabrication
using existing technology, and of the order of 10 −4 is easily
achievable with a large mode field diameter up to 10 μm, thus
enabling its use within fiber lasers and gyroscope applications.