Optical fiber

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The first working fiber-optic data transmission system was demonstrated by German physicist Manfred Börner at Telefunken Research Labs in Ulm in 1965, followed by the first patent application for this technology in 1966. In 1968, NASA used fiber optics in the television cameras that were sent to the moon. At the time, the use in the cameras was classified confidential, and employees handling the cameras had to be supervised by someone with an appropriate security clearance. Lunar Television Camera. Pre-installation Acceptance Test Plan. NASA. 12 March 1968

Charles K. Kao and George A. Hockham of the British company Standard Telephones and Cables (STC) were the first to promote the idea that the attenuation in optical fibers could be reduced below 20 per kilometer (dB/km), making fibers a practical communication medium, in 1965.

In contrast, highly localized measurements can be provided by integrating miniaturized sensing elements with the tip of the fiber. These can be implemented by various micro- and nanofabrication technologies, such that they do not exceed the microscopic boundary of the fiber tip, allowing for such applications as insertion into blood vessels via hypodermic needle.

Extrinsic fiber optic sensors use an optical fiber cable, normally a multi-mode one, to transmit modulated light from either a non-fiber optical sensor—or an electronic sensor connected to an optical transmitter. A major benefit of extrinsic sensors is their ability to reach otherwise inaccessible places. An example is the measurement of temperature inside by using a fiber to transmit radiation into a pyrometer outside the engine. Extrinsic sensors can 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 measure vibration, rotation, displacement, velocity, acceleration, torque, and torsion. A solid-state version of the gyroscope, using the interference of light, has been developed. The fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) has no moving parts and exploits the Sagnac effect to detect mechanical rotation.

Common uses for fiber optic sensors include advanced intrusion detection security systems. The light is transmitted along a fiber optic sensor cable placed on a fence, pipeline, or communication cabling, and the returned signal is monitored and analyzed for disturbances. This return signal is digitally processed to detect disturbances and trip an alarm if an intrusion has occurred. Optical fibers are widely used as components of optical chemical sensors and optical biosensors.

Single-mode optical fibers can be made with extremely low loss. Corning's Vascade® EX2500 fiber, a low loss single-mode fiber for telecommunications wavelengths, has a nominal attenuation of 0.148 dB/km at 1550 nm. A 10 km length of such fiber transmits nearly 71% of optical energy at 1550 nm.

Attenuation in optical fiber is caused primarily by both scattering and absorption. In fibers based on fluoride glasses such as ZBLAN, minimum attenuation is limited by impurity absorption. Vast majority of optical fibers are based on silica glass, where impurity absorption is negligible. In silica fibers attenuation is determined by intrinsic mechanisms: Rayleigh scattering in the glasses through which the light is propagating, and infrared absorption in the same glasses. Absorption in silica increases steeply at wavelengths above 1570 nm. At wavelengths most useful for telecommunications, Rayleigh scattering is the dominant loss mechanism. At 1550 nm attenuation components for a record low loss fiber are given as follows: Rayleigh scattering loss: 0.1200 dB/km, infrared absorption loss: 0.0150 dB/km, impurity absorption loss: 0.0047 dB/km, waveguide imperfection loss: 0.0010 dB/km.

The scattering of light in optical quality glass fiber is caused by molecular level irregularities (compositional fluctuations) in the glass structure. Indeed, one emerging school of thought is that glass is simply the limiting case of a polycrystalline solid. Within this framework, domains exhibiting various degrees of short-range order become the building blocks of metals as well as glasses and ceramics. Distributed both between and within these domains are micro-structural defects that provide the most ideal locations for light scattering.

Scattering depends on the wavelength of the light being scattered and on the size of the scattering centers. Angular dependence of the light intensity scattered from an optical fiber matched that of Rayleigh scattering, indicating that the scattering centers are much smaller than the wavelength of propagating light. It originates from the density fluctuations driven by fictive temperature of the glass, and from the concentration fluctuations of dopants in both the core and the cladding. Rayleigh scattering coefficient, R, can be presented as :$$R\; =\; R\_\backslash text\{d\}\; +\; R\_\backslash text\{c\}$$where represents Rayleigh scattering on density fluctuations and represents Rayleigh scattering on dopant concentration fluctuations. Dopants, such as germanium dioxide or fluorine, are used to create the refractive index difference between the core and the cladding, to form a waveguide structure. $$R\_\backslash text\{d\}\; =\; \backslash frac\{8\; \backslash pi^3\}\{3\; \backslash lambda^4\}\; n^8\; p^2\; \backslash beta\_\backslash text\{c\}\; k\_\backslash text\{B\}\; T\_\backslash text\{f\}$$ where is wavelength, is refractive index, is photo-elastic coefficient, is isothermal compressibility, is the Boltzmann constant, is fictive temperature. The only physically significant variable affecting scattering on density fluctuations is the fictive temperature of the glass, lower fictive temperature results in a more homogeneous glass and lower Rayleigh scattering. Fictive temperature may be dramatically reduced by about 100 wt. ppm of alkali oxide dopant in the fiber core, as well as slower cooling of the fiber during the fiber draw process. These approaches are used to produce optical fibers with the lowest attenuation, especially those for submarine telecom cables.

For small dopant concentrations, is proportional to , where is the mole fraction of the dopant in SiO₂-based glass and is the refractive index of the glass. When GeO₂ dopant is used to increase the refractive index of the fiber core, it increases the concentration fluctuation component of Rayleigh scattering, and attenuation of the fiber. This is why the lowest attenuation fibers do not use GeO₂ in the core, and use fluorine in the cladding, to reduce the refractive index of the cladding. in pure silica core fiber is proportional to the overlap integral between LP01 mode and fluorine-induced concentration fluctuation component in the cladding.

In the core of potassium-doped pure silica-core (KPSC) fiber only density fluctuations play a significant role, as the concentrations of K₂O, fluorine and chlorine are very low. The density fluctuations in the core are moderated by lower fictive temperature resulting from potassium doping, and are further reduced by annealing during the fiber draw process. This differs from the cladding, where higher fluorine dopant levels and the resulting concentration fluctuations add to the loss. In such fibers the light travelling through the core experiences lower scattering and lower attenuation compared to the light propagating through the cladding segment of the fiber.

At high optical powers, scattering can also be caused by nonlinear optical processes in the fiber.

• At the electronic level, it depends on whether the electron orbitals are spaced (or "quantized") such that they can absorb a quantum of light (or photon) of a specific wavelength or frequency in the ultraviolet (UV) or visible ranges. This is what gives rise to color.
• At the atomic or molecular level, it depends on the frequencies of atomic or molecular vibrations or chemical bonds, how closely packed its atoms or molecules are, and whether or not the atoms or molecules exhibit long-range order. These factors will determine the capacity of the material to transmit longer wavelengths in the infrared (IR), far IR, radio, and microwave ranges.

The design of any optically transparent device requires the selection of materials based upon knowledge of its properties and limitations. The crystal structure absorption characteristics observed at the lower frequency regions (mid- to far-IR wavelength range) define the long-wavelength transparency limit of the material. They are the result of the interactive coupling between the motions of thermally induced vibrations of the constituent and molecules of the solid lattice and the incident light wave radiation. Hence, all materials are bounded by limiting regions of absorption caused by atomic and molecular vibrations (bond-stretching) in the far-infrared (>10 μm).

In other words, the selective absorption of IR light by a particular material occurs because the selected frequency of the light wave matches the frequency (or an integer multiple of the frequency, i.e. harmonic) at which the particles of that material vibrate. Since different atoms and molecules have different natural frequencies of vibration, they will selectively absorb different frequencies (or portions of the spectrum) of IR light.

Reflection and transmission of light waves occur because the frequencies of the light waves do not match the natural resonant frequencies of vibration of the objects. When IR light of these frequencies strikes an object, the energy is either reflected or transmitted.

• dB loss due to the type and length of fiber optic cable,
• dB loss introduced by connectors, and
• dB loss introduced by splices.

Connectors typically introduce 0.3 dB per connector on well-polished connectors. Splices typically introduce less than 0.2 dB per splice.

The total loss can be calculated by:

Loss = dB loss per connector × number of connectors + dB loss per splice × number of splices + dB loss per kilometer × kilometers of fiber,

where the dB loss per kilometer is a function of the type of fiber and can be found in the manufacturer's specifications. For example, a typical 1550 nm single-mode fiber has a loss of 0.3 dB per kilometer.

The calculated loss budget is used when testing to confirm that the measured loss is within the normal operating parameters.

Plastic optical fibers (POF) are commonly step-index multi-mode fibers with a core diameter of 0.5 millimeters or larger. POF typically have higher attenuation coefficients than glass fibers, 1 dB/m or higher, and this high attenuation limits the range of POF-based systems.

Silica can be drawn into fibers at reasonably high temperatures and has a fairly broad glass transformation range. One other advantage is that fusion splicing and cleaving of silica fibers is relatively effective. Silica fiber also has high mechanical strength against both pulling and even bending, provided that the fiber is not too thick and that the surfaces have been well prepared during processing. Even simple cleaving of the ends of the fiber can provide nicely flat surfaces with acceptable optical quality. Silica is also relatively chemically inert. In particular, it is not hygroscopic (does not absorb water).

Silica glass can be doped with various materials. One purpose of doping is to raise the refractive index (e.g. with germanium dioxide (GeO₂) or aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃)) or to lower it (e.g. with fluorine or boron trioxide (B₂O₃)). Doping is also possible with laser-active ions (for example, rare-earth-doped fibers) in order to obtain active fibers to be used, for example, in fiber amplifiers or laser applications. Both the fiber core and cladding are typically doped, so that the entire assembly (core and cladding) is effectively the same compound (e.g. an aluminosilicate, germanosilicate, phosphosilicate or borosilicate glass).

Particularly for active fibers, pure silica is usually not a very suitable host glass, because it exhibits a low solubility for rare-earth ions. This can lead to quenching effects due to the clustering of dopant ions. Aluminosilicates are much more effective in this respect. Silica fiber also exhibits a high threshold for optical damage. This property ensures a low tendency for laser-induced breakdown. This is important for fiber amplifiers when utilized for the amplification of short pulses.

Because of these properties, silica fibers are the material of choice in many optical applications, such as communications (except for very short distances with plastic optical fiber), fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and fiber-optic sensors. Large efforts put forth in the development of various types of silica fibers have further increased the performance of such fibers over other materials.

Fluoride fibers are used in mid-IR spectroscopy, fiber optic sensors, thermometry, and optical imaging. Fluoride fibers can be used for guided lightwave transmission in media such as YAG (yttrium aluminium garnet) at 2.9 μm, as required for medical applications (e.g. ophthalmology and dentistry).

An example of a heavy metal fluoride glass is the ZBLAN glass group, composed of zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminium, and sodium fluorides. Their main technological application is as optical waveguides in both planar and fiber forms. They are advantageous especially in the mid-infrared (2,000–5,000 nm) range.

Phosphate glasses can be advantageous over silica glasses for optical fibers with a high concentration of doping rare-earth ions. A mix of fluoride glass and phosphate glass is fluorophosphate glass.

Typical communications fiber uses a circular preform. For some applications such as double-clad fibers another form is preferred. In based on double-clad fiber, an asymmetric shape improves the filling factor for laser pumping.

Because of the surface tension, the shape is smoothed during the drawing process, and the shape of the resulting fiber does not reproduce the sharp edges of the preform. Nevertheless, careful polishing of the preform is important, since any defects of the preform surface affect the optical and mechanical properties of the resulting fiber.