INTRODUCTION:

Now-a-days there is a revolution in communication technology. The need of new

communication channels is increasing day by day. In communication systems, there has
been a frequent use of either the radio-waves or microwaves in the form of carrier waves
for sending the information from one place to other. However, the advent of the laser in
19! revolutioni"ed the telecommunication and networ#ing areas with an immediate
appreciation of the potential benefits of sending information from one place to the other
using light, as the laser is a coherent source of light waves. It is worth mentioning that at
higher optical frequencies ( ) Hz
1$
1! , one hundred thousand times more information can
be carried compared with microwaves. However, the energy of light waves gets
dissipated in open atmosphere. %o it can not travel long distances and hence a guiding
channel is required to guide them &ust li#e a metal wire is required to guide electrical
currents. This purpose is solved with the use of optical fibres. The scientists, engineers
and technologists felt the need of utili"ing optical frequencies ( ) Hz
1$
1! in
communication. 'or this, there are two basic requirements vi"., sources of light and
guiding medium have been developed to appropriate use. (ow-a-days the lasers of
various characteristics in wide frequency ranges are available. The light propagate
through optical fibers obey the phenomenon of total internal reflection(TIR) &ust li#e
hollow pipes and coa)ial cables propagate microwaves utili"ing reflections at metal
surfaces. (ow-a-days in India too optical fibers cables are being e)tensively used in
telephone, local cable networ#ing and computer networ#s etc. in offices and cities.
Optical fibre: *ptical fiber is a long thin transparent dielectric material which
carries +, waves of visible and I- frequencies from one end to the other end of the fiber
by means of TI-. .n optical fibre is a transparent conduit as thin as human hair, made of
glass or clear plastic, designed to guide light waves along its length. .n optical fibre
wor#s on the principle of total internal reflection. /hen light enters one end of the fibre,
it undergoes successive total internal reflections from sidewalls and travels down the
length of the fibre along a "ig"ag path, and emerges out from the other end of the fibre
due to small losses.
. practical optical fibre has in general three coa)ial regions. The inner most
region is the light guiding region #nown as the core. It is surrounded by a coa)ial middle
region #nown as the cladding. The outer most region is called the protective
jacket/Seat/b!ffer coating. The refractive inde) of core is always greater than that of
the cladding. The purpose of cladding is to ma#e the light to be confined to the core.
0ight launched into the core and stri#ing the core-to-cladding interface at an angle greater
than critical angle will be reflected bac# into the core. %ince the angle of incidence and
reflection are equal, the light will continue to rebound and propagate through the fibre.
The sheath protects the cladding and the core from abrasion contamination and harmful
influence of moisture. In addition, it increases the mechanical strength of the fibre.
Critical angle and total internal reflection:
n
"
(core)
n
1
2cladding3
#ropagation $ecani%$ tro!g optical fibre:
*ptical fiber wor#s on the principle of Total Internal -eflection 2TI-3. *nce light ray
enters into core, it propagates by means of multiple TI-4s at core-cladding interface. The
light in a fiber-optic cable travels through the core 2hallway3 by constantly bouncing from
the cladding 2mirror-lined walls3, a principle called total internal reflection. 5ecause the
cladding does not absorb any light from the core, the light wave can travel great
distances. However, some of the light signal degrades within the fiber, mostly due to
impurities in the glass. The e)tent that the signal degrades depends on the purity of the
glass and the wavelength of the transmitted light.
.n optical fibre consists of a central part of refractive inde)
1
n called the core
having diameter ranging from 1!6m to $! 6m. The core is surrounded by a material
having diameter from $! to 11$ 6m of refractive inde)
1
n less than
1
n ( ),
1 1
n n < called
the cladding. The light rays traveling from core to cladding pass from denser to rarer
medium. /hen angle of incidence
( )
i

becomes greater than critical angle

, sin ., .
1
1 1

'

,
_

>

n
n
e i
c i c

these light rays suffer total internal reflection and
propagate within the fibre, as shown in the above figure.