Signal Dispersion in

Fibers
• An optical signal weakens from attenuation mechanisms and
broadens due to dispersion effects as it travels along a fiber.
• Eventually these two factors will cause neighboring pulses to overlap.
• After a certain amount of overlap occurs, the receiver can no longer
distinguish the individual adjacent pulses and errors arise when
interpreting the received signal
Overview of Dispersion Origins
• Signal dispersion is a consequence of factors such as intermodal delay
(also called intermodal dispersion), intramodal dispersion,
polarization-mode dispersion, and higher-order dispersion effects.
• These distortions can be explained by examining the behavior of the
group velocities of the guided modes, where the group velocity is the
speed at which energy in a particular mode travels along the fiber
Intermodal delay
• Intermodal delay (or simply modal delay) appears only in multimode
fibers.
• Modal delay is a result of each mode having a different value of the
group velocity at a single frequency.
Intramodal dispersion
• Intramodal dispersion or chromatic dispersion is pulse spreading that takes place within a single mode.
• This spreading arises from the finite spectral emission width of an optical source.
• The phenomenon also is known as group velocity dispersion, since the dispersion is a result of the group
velocity being a function of the wavelength.
• Because intramodal dispersion depends on the wavelength, its effect on signal distortion increases with
the spectral width of the light source.
• The spectral width is the band of wavelengths over which the source emits light.
• This wavelength band normally is characterized by the root-meansquare (rms) spectral width.
• Depending on the device structure of a light-emitting diode (LED), the spectral width is approximately 4 to
9 percent of a central wavelength.
• For example, as Fig. illustrates, if the peak wavelength of an LED is 850 nm, a typical source spectral
width would be 36 nm; that is, such an LED emits most of its light in the 832-to-868-nm wavelength band.
• Laser diode optical sources exhibit much narrower spectral widths, with typical values being 1–2 nm for
multimode lasers and 10-4 nm for single-mode lasers
• The two main causes of intramodal dispersion are as follows:
Material dispersion arises due to the variations of the refractive index
of the core material as a function of wavelength.
Material dispersion also is referred to as chromatic dispersion, since
this is the same effect by which a prism spreads out a spectrum.
This refractive index property causes a wavelength dependence of the
group velocity of a given mode; that is, pulse spreading occurs even
when different wavelengths follow the same path.
• Waveguide dispersion causes pulse spreading because only part of the
optical power propagation along a fiber is confined to the core.
• Within a single propagating mode, the cross-sectional distribution of light
in the optical fiber varies for different wavelengths.
• Shorter wavelengths are more completely confined to the fiber core,
whereas a larger portion of the optical power at longer wavelengths
propagates in the cladding.
• The refractive index is lower in the cladding than in the core, so the
fraction of light power propagating in the cladding travels faster than the
light confined to the core.
• The index of refraction depends on the wavelength so that different
spectral components within a single mode have different propagation
speeds.
• Dispersion thus arises because the difference in core-cladding spatial
power distributions, together with the speed variations of the various
wavelengths, causes a change in propagation velocity for each
spectral component.
• The degree of waveguide dispersion depends on the fiber design.
• Waveguide dispersion usually can be ignored in multimode fibers, but
its effect is significant in single-mode fibers.
Polarization-mode dispersion
• Polarization-mode dispersion results from the fact that light-signal
energy at a given wavelength in a single-mode fiber actually occupies
two orthogonal polarization states or modes.
• At the start of the fiber the two polarization states are aligned.
• However, since fiber material is not perfectly uniform throughout its
length, each polarization mode will encounter a slightly different
refractive index.
• Consequently each mode will travel at a slightly different velocity.
• The resulting difference in propagation times between the two
orthogonal polarization modes will cause pulse spreading.
Modal Delay
• Intermodal dispersion or modal delay appears only in multimode
fibers.
• This signal-distorting mechanism is a result of each mode having a
different value of the group velocity at a single frequency.
• The steeper the angle of propagation of the ray congruence, the
higher is the mode number and, consequently, the slower the axial
group velocity.
• This variation in the group velocities of the different modes results in
a group delay spread, which is the intermodal dispersion.
 Intermodal Dispersion

Þ Exists in multimode fiber cable

Þ It causes the input light pulse to spread.

Þ Light Pulse consists of group of modes. The light energy is delayed with different amount
along the fiber.
This dispersion mechanism is eliminated by single-mode operation but is important in
multimode fibers.
The maximum pulse broadening arising from the modal delay is the difference between the
travel time Tmax of the longest ray congruence paths (the highest-order mode) and the travel
time Tmin of the shortest ray congruence paths (the fundamental mode).
This broadening is simply obtained from ray tracing and for a fiber of length L is given by
• The fiber capacity is specified in terms of the bit rate-distance
product BL, that is, the bit rate times the possible transmission
distance L. In order for neighboring signal pulses to remain
distinguishable at the receiver, the pulse spread should be less than
1/B, which is the width of a bit period.
• A successful technique for reducing modal delay in multimode fibers is through
the use of a graded refractive index in the fiber core.
• In any multimode fiber the ray paths associated with higher-order modes are
concentrated near the edge of the core and thus follow a longer path through the
fiber than lower-order modes (which are concentrated near the fiber axis).
• However, if the core has a graded index, then the higher-order modes encounter a
lower refractive index near the core edge.
• Since the speed of light in a material depends on the refractive index value, the
higher-order modes travel faster in the outer core region than those modes that
propagate through a higher refractive index along the fi ber center.
• Consequently this reduces the delay difference between the fastest and slowest
modes.
• absolute modal delay at the output of a graded-index fiber that has a
parabolic core index profile
Birefringence in single-mode fibers
Because of asymmetries the refractive indices for the two degenerate modes (vertical
& horizontal polarizations) are different. This difference is referred to as
birefringence, B :f

Optical Fiber communications, 3rd ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000

 Fiber Beat Length

In general, a linearly polarized mode is a combination of both of the degenerate modes. As the
modal wave travels along the fiber, the difference in the refractive indices would change the phase
difference between these two components & thereby the state of the polarization of the mode.
However after certain length referred to as fiber beat length, the modal wave will produce its
original state of polarization. This length is simply given by:

2
Lp  [2-35]
kB f
Modal Birefringence
 Intermodal Dispersion

Þ Exists in multimode fiber cable

Þ It causes the input light pulse to spread.

Þ Light Pulse consists of group of modes. The light energy is delayed with different amount
along the fiber.
Graded Index Fiber
Structure
• In graded index fiber, core refractive index decreases
continuously with increasing radial distance r from
center of fiber and constant in cladding
 r  1/ 2 
n1[1  2( ) ] for 0 r a 
n(r )  a 
n (1  2)1/ 2 n (1  ) n for r a 
 1 1 2

• α defines the shape of the index profile

• As α goes to infinity, above reduces to step index
• The index difference is

n12  n22 n1  n2
 2

2n1 n1
contd
• NA is more complex than step index fiber since it is
function of position across the core
• Geometrical optics considerations show that light
incident on fiber core at position r will propagate only
if it within NA(r)
• Local numerical aperture is defined as

• And
[n 2 (r )  n 2 ]1/ 2  NA(0) 1  (r / a ) for r a 
NA(r )  2

0 for r  0 

2
NA(0) [n (0)  n ] 2 1/ 2
2 
n  n2
1 2 
2 1/ 2
n1 2
Examples
If a = 9.5 micron, find n2 in order to design a single
mode fiber, if n1=1.465.
Solution,

V 2.405 (2a /  ) n12  n22 (2 4.25 /  ) 1.4652  n22

 820nm, n2 1.463
 1300nm, n2 1.46
 1550nm, n2 1.458
The longer the wavelength, the larger refractive index
difference is needed to maintain single mode
condition, for a given fiber
Examples
• Compute the number of modes for a fiber whose core
diameter is 50 micron. Assume that n1=1.48 and
n2=1.46. Wavelength = 0.8 micron.
• Solution

For large V, the total number of modes supported can

be estimated as
V0.82m (2a /  ) n12  n22 (2 25 / 0.82) 1.482  1.46 2 46.45

M V 2 / 2 46.452 / 2 1079
Example
• What is the maximum core radius allowed for a glass
fiber having n1=1.465 and n2=1.46 if the fiber is to
support only one mode at wavelength of 1250nm.
• Solution

Vcritical 2.405 (2a /  ) n12  n22

 
a Vcritical /( 2 n12  n22 ) 2.405 x1.25 / 2 1.4652  1.46 2 3.956 m