K.

E CARMEL CENTRAL
SCHOOL
CHERTHALA

Physics Investigatory Project

OPTICAL FIBRES AND APPLICATIONS
Submitted by,

Angelina Benny
XII:C

Roll no - 32
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Angelina Benny of XII: C of K. E
Carmel Central School, Cherthala has completed her
project file under our supervision on topic “ OPTICAL
FIBRES AND APPLICATIONS.”

She has taken proper care and shown at most sincerity in

completion of this project upto our expectations as per the
CBSE guidelines.

Signature

Ms. Akhila and Ms. Divya K. P

Physics teachers
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my since I gratitude to my physics
teachers, Ms. Akhila and Ms. Divya as well as our
principal Rev.Fr Samjy Vadakkedom CMI who gave me
this golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic “OPTICAL FIBRES AND APPLICATIONS”.

Secondly ,I will also like to thank my parents and my

friends who helped me to complete this project within the
limited time frame.

Lastly, I would like to thank all my supporters who had

motivated me to fullfill the project before the timeline.
Index
Introduction ..6

Applications of optical fibres ..8

Principle of Operation ..11

Types of Optical Fibres ..12

Pros and cons ..17

Conclusion ..19

Bibliography ..20
IntroductIon
Optical Fibre Cable (OFC)
An optical Fibre (or fibre) is a glass or plastic Fibre
that carries light along its length. Fibre optics is
the overlap of applied science and engineering
concerned with the design and application of
optical Fibre s. Optical Fibre s are widely used in
Fibre -optic communications, which permits the
transmission over longer distances and at higher
bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of
communications. Fibre s are used instead of metal
wires because signals travel along them with less
loss, and they are also immune to electromagnetic
interference. Fibre s are also used for illumination,
and are wrapped in bundles so they can be used to
carry images, thus allowing viewing in tight
spaces. Specially designed Fibre s are used for a
variety of other applications, including sensors
and Fibre lasers.Light is kept in the core of the
optical Fibre by total internal reflection.This causes
the Fibre to act as a waveguide. Fibre s which
support many propagation paths or transverse
modes are called multi-mode Fibre s(MMF), while
those which can only support a single mode are
called single-mode Fibre s (SMF). Multi-mode Fibre
s generally have a larger core diameter, and are
used for short-distance communication links
andfor applications where high power must be
transmitted. Single-mode Fibre s are used for most
communication links longer than 550 meters
(1,800 ft).Joining lengths of optical Fibre is more
complex than joining electrical wire or cable. The
ends of the Fibre s must be carefully cleaved, and
then spliced together either mechanically or by
fusing them together with an electric arc. Special
connectors are used to make removable
connections.

• Optical Fibre bundles

 Applications of Optical FibreS
• Optical Fibre communication
Optical Fibre can be used as a medium for telecommunication
and networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as
cables. It is especially advantageous for long-distance
communications, because light propagates through the Fibre
with little attenuation compared to electrical cables. This allows
long distances to be spanned with few repeaters. Additionally,
the per-channel light signals propagating in the Fibre can be
modulated at rates as high as 111 gigabits per second, although 10
or 40Gb/s is typical in deployed systems. Each Fibre can carry
many independent channels, each using a different
wavelength of light(wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM)).
The net data rate (data rate without overhead bytes) per Fibre
is the per-channel data rate reduced by the FEC overhead,
multiplied by the number of channels (usually up to eighty in
commercial dense WDM systems as of 2008). The current
laboratory Fibre optic date record, held by Bell Labs in
Villarceaux,France, is multiplexing 155 channels, each carrying
100 Gbps over a7000 km Fibre . For short distance applications,
such as creating a network within an office building, Fibre -optic
cabling can be used to save space in cable ducts. This is because
a single Fibre can often carry much more data than many
electrical cables, such as Cat-5 Ethernet cabling. Fibre is also
immune to electrical interference; there is no cross-talk between
signal sin different cables and no pickup of environmental noise.
Non-armored Fibre cables do not conduct electricity, which
makes Fibre a good solution for protecting communications
equipment located in high voltage environments such as power
generation facilities, or metal communication structures prone
to lightning strikes. They can also be used in environments
where explosive fumes are present, without danger of ignition.
Wiretapping is more difficult compared to electrical
connections, and there are concentric dual core Fibre s that are
said to betap-proof.Although Fibre s can be made out of
transparent plastic, glass, or a combination of the two, the Fibre
s used in long-distance telecommunications applications are
always glass, because of the lower optical attenuation. Both
multi-mode and single-mode Fibre s are used in
communications, with multi-mode Fibre used mostly for short
distances, up to 550 m (600 yards), and single-mode Fibre used
for longer distance links. Because of the tighter tolerances
required to couple light into and between single-mode Fibre s
(core diameter about 10micrometers),single-mode transmitters,
receivers, amplifiers and other components are generally more
expensive than multi-mode components.
• Fibre optic sensors
Fibres have many uses in remote sensing. In some applications,
the sensor is itself an optical Fibre . In other cases, Fibre is used
to connect a non-Fibre optic sensor to a measurement system.
Depending on the application, Fibre may be used because of its
small size, or the fact that no electrical power is needed at the
remote location, or because many sensors can be multiplexed
along the length of a Fibre by using different wavelengths of
light for each sensor, or by sensing the time delay as light passes
along the Fibre through each sensor. Time delay can be
determined using a device such as an optical time-domain
reflectometer. Optical Fibre s can be used as sensors to measure
strain, temperature, pressure and other quantities by modifying
a Fibre so that the quantity to be measured modulates the
intensity, phase, polarization, wavelength or transit time of light
in the Fibre . Sensors that vary the intensity of light are the
simplest, since only a simple source and detector are required. A
particularly useful feature of such Fibre optic sensors is that
they can, if required, provide distributed sensing over distances
of up to one meter. Extrinsic Fibre optic sensors use an optical
Fibre cable, normally a multi-mode one, to transmit modulated
light from either a non-Fibre optical sensor, or an electronic
sensor connected to an optical transmitter. A major benefit of
extrinsic sensors is their ability to reach places which are
otherwise inaccessible. An example is the measurement of
temperature inside aircraft jet engines by using a Fibre to
transmit radiation into a radiation pyrometer located outside
the engine. Extrinsic sensors can also be used in the same way to
measure the internal temperature of electrical transformers,
where the extreme electromagnetic fields present make other
measurement techniques impossible. Extrinsic sensors are used
to measure vibration, rotation, displacement, velocity,
acceleration, torque, and twisting.
Other uses of optical Fibres
• Fibres are widely used in illumination applications. They
are used as light guides in medical and other applications
where bright light needs to be shone on a target without a
clear line-of-sight path.
• Optical Fibre is also used in imaging optics. A coherent
bundle of Fibres is used, sometimes along with lenses, for a
long, thin imaging device called an endoscope, which is
used to view objects through a small hole.
• In spectroscopy, optical Fibre bundles are used to transmit
light from a spectrometer to a substance which cannot be
placed inside the spectrometer itself, in order to analyze its
composition.
• An optical Fibre doped with certain rare earth elements
such as erbium can be used as the gain medium of a laser
or optical amplifier.

Principle of Operation
An optical Fibre is a cylindrical dielectric waveguide (non
conducting waveguide) that transmits light along its axis, by the
process oftotal internal reflection. The Fibre core is surrounded
by a claddinglayer

∆Index of Refraction
The index of refraction is a way of measuring the speed of light
in a material. Light travels fastest in a vacuum, such as outer
space. The actual speed of light in a vacuum is about 300
million meters (186thousand miles) per second. Index of
refraction is calculated by dividing the speed of light in a
vacuum by the speed of light in some other medium. The index
of refraction of a vacuum is therefore 1, by definition. The
typical value for the cladding of an optical Fibre is 1.46.The core
value is typically 1.48. The larger the index of refraction, the
slower light travels in that medium.

∆Total Internal Reflection

When light travelling in a dense medium hits a boundary at a
steep angle(larger than the “critical angle” for the boundary), the
light will be completely reflected. This effect is used in optical
Fibre s to confine light in the core. Light travels along the Fibre
bouncing back and forth off of the boundary.
Conditions for TIR
• The light ray travels from more denser to less denser
medium.
• The angle of incidence be greater than critical angle.
Types of Optical Fibres
Single Mode Fibre
Fibre with a core diameter less than about ten times the
wavelength of the propagating light cannot be modeled
using geometric optics. Instead, it must be analyzed as an
electromagnetic structure, by solution of Maxwell’s
equations as reduced to the electromagnetic wave
equation. The electromagnetic analysis may also be
required to understand behaviours such as speckle that
occur when coherent light propagates in multi-mode
Fibre . As an optical waveguide, the Fibre supports one
or more confined transverse modes by which light can
propagate along the Fibre . Fibre supporting only one
mode is called single-mode or mono-mode Fibre . The
behavior of larger-core multi-mode Fibre can also be
modeled using the wave equation, which shows that
such Fibre supports more than one mode of propagation
(hence the name). The results of such modeling of multi-
mode Fibre approximately agree with the predictions of
geometric optics, if the Fibre core is large enough to
support more than a few modes.
The structure of a typical single-mode Fibre
1. Core: 8 µm diameter
2. 2. Cladding: 125 µm dia.
3. . Buffer: 250 µm dia.
4. 4. Jacket: 400 µm diameter

Multi mode Fibre

The propagation of light through a multi-mode optical
Fibre . A laser bouncing down an acrylic rod, illustrating
the total internal reflection of light in a multi-mode optical
Fibre . Fibre with large core diameter (greater than 10
micrometers) may be analyzed by geometrical optics. Such
Fibre is called multi-mode Fibre , from the electromagnetic
analysis (see below). In a step-index multi mode Fibre , rays
of light are guided along the Fibre core by total internal
reflection. Rays that meet the core-cladding boundary at a
high angle(measured relative to a line normal to the
boundary), greater than the critical angle for this boundary,
are completely reflected. The critical angle (minimum angle
for total internal reflection) is determined by the difference
in index of refraction between the core and cladding
materials. Rays that meet the boundary at a low angle are
refracted from the core into the cladding, and do not
convey light and hence information along the Fibre . The
critical angle determines the acceptance angle of the Fibre ,
often reported as a numerical aperture. A high numerical
aperture allow slight to propagate down the Fibre in rays
both close to the axis and at various angles, allowing
efficient coupling of light into the Fibre . However, this high
numerical aperture increases the amount of dispersion as
rays at different angles have different path lengths and
therefore take different times to traverse the Fibre .
 • Propagation of light through a multi mode optical Fibre

Single – mode optical Fibre cable

Multi - mode optical Fibre cable

Pros and cons of optical Fibre

Pros
• Greater bandwidth and faster speed: optical Fibre
cable supports greater bandwidth and speed. The
large amount of information that can be transmitted
per unit of optical Fibre cable is its most significant
advantage.
• Cheap: long, continuous miles of optical Fibre can
be made cheaper than equivalent lengths of copper
wire. Thus it is widely used commercially.
• Thinner and light weighted: opticalFibre s are more
thin and lightweight and can be drawn easily to any
diameter. It also offers to place better than copper in
these terms.

Cons
• Low power: light emitting sources are limited to low
power, although high power emitters are available it
would add cost.
• Fragility: optical Fibre is more fragile and
vulnerable when compared to copper. We cannot
twist or bend optical Fibre s like copper.
• Distance: the distance between the transmitter and
the receiver should be kept short for optical Fibres to
work well.
conclusIon
Fibre optic transmission is widely used for
data transmission and is increasingly being
used in the place of metal wires because of
it’s efficiency and high transmission capacity.
We have seen the fibre optic cables have
replaced traditional copper twisted pair cable
or coaxial cable. As the greater use and
demand for bandwidth and fast speed, there
is no doubt that fibre optic transmission will
bring more opportunities and be
continuously be researched and expanded to
cater for future demands.
Bibliography
• NCERT XII Physics part -2
textbook
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.scribd.com
• www.slideshare.com