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PowerLaunchingand
Coupling
Unit5
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PowerLaunchingConsiderations
NumericalAperture
CoreSize
RefractiveIndexProfile
CoreCladdingindexdifferenceofthefiber
Radiance
AngularPowerDistributionoftheopticalsource
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Coupling Efficiency
s
F
P
P
= =
sourse the from emitted power
fiber the into coupled power

Source Optical Fiber

s
P
F
P
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LambertianSource
Lambert's cosine law in optics says that
the radiant intensity observed from a
"Lambertian" surface is directly
proportional to the cosine of the angle
between the observer's line of sight and the
surface normal.
The law is also known as the cosine
emission law or Lambert's emission law.
It is named after Johann Heinrich Lambert,
from his Photometria, published in 1760
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SourcetoFiberPowerLaunching
Radiance (orbrightness)B atagivendiodedrivecurrent istheoptical
powerradiatedintoaunitsolidangleperunitemittingsurface area
andisgenerallyspecifiedintermsofW/cm
2
.sr.
ConsiderFig.whichshowsasphericalcoordinatesystemcharacterized
byR,,and,withthenormaltotheemittingsurfacebeingthepolar
axis.
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SourcetoFiberPowerLaunching
Theradiancemaybeafunctionofboth and,andcanalsovaryfrom
pointtopointontheemittingsurface.
SurfaceemittingLEDsarecharacterizedbytheirLambertianoutput
pattern.Thepowerdeliveredatanangle,measuredrelativetoa
normaltotheemittingsurface,variesascos becausetheprojected
areaoftheemittingsurfacevariesascos withviewingdirection.
TheemissionpatternforaLambertiansourcefollowstherelationship
B(,)=B
o
cos
whereB
o
istheradiancealongthenormaltotheradiatingsurface.The
radiancepatternforthissourceisshowninFig.
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SourcetoFiberPowerLaunching
EdgeemittingLEDsandlaserdiodeshavedifferentradiancesB(,0
o
)
andB(,90
o
)intheplanesparallelandnormal,respectively,tothe
emittingjunctionplaneofthedevice.
Theradiancescanbeapproximatedby
TheintegersT andL arethetransverseandlateralpowerdistribution
coefficients,respectively.
Foredgeemitters,L=1(aLambertiandistributionwitha120
o
half
powerbeamwidth)andT issignificantlylarger.
Forlaserdiodes,L cantakeonvaluesover100.

L T
B B B cos
cos
cos
sin
) , (
1
0
2
0
2
+ =
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SourcetoFiberPowerLaunching
Example:
Alambertianpatternwithalaserdiodehasalateral( =0
o
)half
powerbeamwidthof2 =10
o
.
wehave
B(=5
o
, =0
o
)=B
o
(cos5
o
)
L
=(1/2)B
o
SolvingforL,wehave
L =[log0.5/log(cos5
o
)]
=[log0.5/log0.9962]=182
Thenarroweroutputbeamfromalaserdiodeallowsmorelight
tobecoupledintoanopticalfiber
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PowerCouplingCalculation
ConsiderthecaseshowninFig.forasymmetricsourceofbrightness
B(A
s
,
s
),whereA
s
and
s
aretheareaandsolidemissionangleofthe
source,respectively.
Thecoupledpowercanbefoundusingtherelationship
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PowerCouplingCalculation
Thetotalcoupledpowerisdeterminedbysummingupthecontributions
fromeachindividualemittingpointsourceofincrementalarea d
s
rdr;
thatis,integratingovertheemittingarea.
Ifthesourceradiusr
s
islessthanthefibercoreradiusa,thentheupper
integrationlimitr
m
= r
s
; forsourceareaslargerthanthefibercorearea,
r
m
=a
AssumeasurfaceemittingLEDofr
s
<a.ThisisaLambertianemitter,
ForstepindexfiberstheNAisindependentof
s
andr,sothat(forr
s
<a)
P
LED,step
=(r
s
)
2
B
0
(NA)
2
=2(r
s
)
2
B
0
n
1
2

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PowerCouplingCalculation
AssumeTotalopticalpowerP
s
emittedfromthesourceareaA
s
intoa
hemisphere(2 sr)isgivenby
HenceP
LED,step
=P
s
(NA)
2
forr
s
< a
Whentheradiusoftheemittingareaislargerthantheradiusa ofthe
fibercorearea,Therefore
P
LED,step
=(a/r
s
)
2
P
s
(NA)
2
forr
s
>a
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PowerCouplingCalculation
Example:
ConsideranLEDthathasacircularemittingareaofradius35mmanda
Lambertianemissionpatternwith150W/(cm2.sr)axialradiance.
Letuscomparetheopticalpowerscoupledintotwostepindexfibers,one
ofwhichhasacoreradiusof25mmwithNA =0.20andtheotherhasa
coreradiusof50mmwithNA =0.20.
Forthelargercorefiber,weget
P
LED,step
=P
s
(NA)
2
=
2
r
s
2
B
0
(NA)
2
=
2
(0.0035cm)
2
[150W/(cm
2
.sr)](0.20)
2
=0.725mW
Whenthefiberendfaceareaissmallerthantheemittingsurfacearea,the
coupledpowerislessthantheabovecasebytheratiooftheradiisquared:
P
LED,step
=(a/r
s
)
2
P
s
(NA)
2
=(25m/35m)
2
(0.725mW)
=0.37mW
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PowerCouplingCalculation
ThepowercoupledfromasurfaceemittingLEDintoagradedindexfiber
becomes(forr
s
<a)
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PowerCouplingCalculation
Iftherefractiveindexn ofthemediumisdifferentfromn
1
,thenthe
powercoupledintothefiberreducesbythefactor
R =(n
1
n)
2
/(n
1
+n)
2
whereR istheFresnelreflectionorthereflectivityatthefibercoreend
face.
Thereflectioncoefficient r=(n
1
n)/(n
1
+n) relatestheamplitudesofthe
reflectedandtheincidentwave.
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PowerCouplingCalculation
Example :
AGaAsopticalsourcewitharefractiveindexof3.6iscoupledtoasilica
fiberthathasarefractiveindexof1.48.
Ifthefiberendandthesourceareinclosephysicalcontact,thenthe
Fresnelreflectionattheinterfaceis
R =[(n
1
n)/(n
1
+n)]
2
=[(3.601.48)/(3.60+1.48)]
2
=0.174
ThisvalueofR correspondstoareflectionof17.4%oftheemitted
opticalpowerbackintothesource.
GiventhatP
coupled
=(1R)P
emitted
thepowerlossL indecibelsisfound
from
L =10.log[P
coupled
/P
emitted
]
=10.log(1R)=10log(0.826)=0.83dB
Thisnumbercanbereducedbyhavinganindexmatchingmaterial
betweenthesourceandthefiberend.
.
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PowerLaunchingversusWavelength
Thenumberofmodesthatcanpropagateinagradedindexfiberofcore
sizea andindexprofile is
M =[/(+2)].[2an
1
/]
2

Twiceasmanymodespropagateinagivenfiberat900nmthanat1300
nm.
Theradiatedpowerpermode,P
s
/M,fromasourceataparticular
wavelengthisgivenbytheradiancemultipliedbythesquareofthe
nominalsourcewavelength,
P
s
/M =B
o

2
Twiceasmuchpowerislaunchedintoagivenmodeat1300nmthanat
900nm.
Twoidenticallysizedsourcesoperatingatdifferentwavelengths but
havingidenticalradianceswilllaunchequalamountsofopticalpower
intothesamefiber.
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EquilibriumNumericalAperture
AnexampleoftheexcesspowerlossisshowninFig.intermsof the
fiberNA.Attheinputendofthefiber,thelightacceptanceisdescribed
intermsofthelaunchnumericalapertureNA
in
.
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EquilibriumNumericalAperture
IfthelightemittingareaoftheLEDislessthanthecrosssectionalarea
ofthefibercore,thenthepowercoupledintothefiberisgivenby
P
LED
=P
s
(NA
in
)
2
Inlongfiberlengthsafterthelaunchedmodeshavecometo
equilibrium(whichisoftentakentooccurat50m),theeffectofthe
equilibriumnumericalapertureNA
eq
becomesapparent.
Theopticalpowerinthefiberscalesas
P
eq
=P
50
(NA
eq
/NA
in
)
2
whereP
50
isthepowerexpectedinthefiberatthe50mpointbasedon
thelaunchNA.
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LENSINGFORCOUPLINGIMPROVEMENT
PossibleLensingSchemesareshown
inFig.:
Aroundedendfiber;
Asmallglasssphere(nonimaging
microsphere)incontactwithboth
thefiberandthesource;
Alargersphericallensusedto
imagethesourceonthecorearea
ofthefiberend:
Acylindricallensgenerallyformed
fromashortsectionoffiber;
Asystemconsistingofaspherical
surfacedLEDandaspherical
endedfiber;and
Ataperendedfiber.
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FIBERTOFIBERJOINTS
Foragradedindexfiberwithacoreradiusa andacladdingindexr
2
,
andwithk=2/,thetotalnumberofmodesis
wheren(r)definestherefractiveindexvariationofthecore.
Thetotalnumberofmodescanrelatetoalocalnumericalaperture
NA(r)through
Thefractionofenergycoupledfromonefibertoanotheris
proportionaltothecommonmodevolumeM
comm
.
Thefibertofibercouplingefficiencyisgivenby

F
=(M
comm
/M
E
)
whereM
E
isthenumberofmodesintheemittingfiber.
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FIBERTOFIBERJOINTS
ThefibertofibercouplinglossL
F
isgivenintermsof
F
as
L
F
=10log
F
Considerallfibermodesbeing
equallyexcited,thentheoutputbeam
fillstheentireoutputNA;asshownin
Fig.(a)
Ifsteadystatemodalequilibriumhas
beenestablishedintheemittingfiber,
theopticalpowerisconcentrated
nearthecenterofthefibercore,as
showninFig.(b).Theopticalpower
emergingfromthefiberthenfills
onlytheequilibriumNA.
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FiberCableanFiberJoints
Jointsinfiberareneededforanumberofreasons:
Fiberisavailableandcanonlybeinstalledinlengthsuptoabout
2km,forlongerspansajointisneeded
Fortherepairofdamagedfiber
Fortestpurposesatterminalequipment
Therearethreebasictypesofjoint:
Opticalfiberconnector,demountableconnection
Fusionsplice,permanentconnection
Mechanicalsplice
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FiberCableanFiberJoints
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LossinFiberJoints
Thereareseveralsourcesoflossinafiberjoint:
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FresnelLossatanInterface
Lossisassociatedwithinterfacesbetweentwomediawherethere isa
stepchangeintherefractiveindex
Lossoccursbecauseofreflectionattheinterface.
FractionoflightreflectedattheinterfacegivenbyFresnelFormula,
ThelossindecibelduetoFresnelreflectionisgivenby
2

=
b a
b a
n n
n n
r
( ) r Loss
Fres
= 1 log 10
10
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FresnelLossatanInterface
TypicallyFresnellossorreflectionoccursatjointswithanairgap
Forafiberjointlossoccurstwice,onceateachfiberairinterface.
HencetotallossindecibelduetoFresnelreflectionisgivenby
Problem:
Showthatforafiberwithann
1
=1.5asmallairgapresultsinatotal
Fresnellossof.36dB

=
2
0 1
0 1
10
1 log 20
n n
n n
Loss
Fres
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FIBERTOFIBERJOINTS
Mechanical misalignment losses
Lateral(axial)misalignmentlossisadominant
Mechanicalloss.
2 / 1
2
2
step ,
2
1
2
arccos
2

= =
a
d
a
d
a
d
a
A
comm
F

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FIBERTOFIBERJOINTS
Longitudinal offset effect
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FiberOpticConnectors
Invariablyusedtoconnectfibertoterminalequipment,suchaslasers
orphotodiodes.
Eachfibercladdingislocatedexactlywithinaprecisionferrule,using
adhesive.
Jointisformedbypreciselyaligningbothferruleswithinanadaptor.
Widevarietyofconnectorshaveevolved,tosuitdifferentapplications,
Mostlybasedonferruledesign
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OpticalFiberConnectors
Some of the principal requirements of a good connector
design are as follows:
1- low coupling losses
2- Interchangeability
3- Ease of assembly
4- Low environmental sensitivity
5- Low-cost and reliable construction
6- Ease of connection
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Connectorloss
Connectorlossisrandom,notonlybetweendifferent
connectorsofthesame typebutalsobetweeneachmating
(repeatability).
Attenuation(InsertionLoss):
ReturnLoss:
Reflectionsaretheopticalpowerdirectedbacktowardthesource.
Mostcommonsourceofreflectionisafiberjoint.
Magnitudeofreflectionisdefinedbythe"ReturnLoss"
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OpticalFiberCouplers
Couplersareoneofthemostcommondevicesinopticalfiber
systems.
Usedtosplit,combineandroutesignalswithinsystems.
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ClassificationofFiberCouplers
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CouplerSplitRatio
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CouplerInsertionLoss
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CouplerExcessLoss
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CouplerCrosstalkorDirectivity
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Exercise
AfourportmultimodeFBTcouplerhas60Wofopticalpower
launchedintoport1.Themeasuredpowersattheotherports
are:
Port2: 0.004W
Port3: 26.0W
Port4: 27.5W
Determinetheexcessloss,insertionloss,directivity,andsplit
ratioforthiscoupler.