Optical Fiber Communications

Prepared by Dr. Po Kimtho

Electricity and Electronic Engineering
Norton University

1
Brief Information
• Education Background:
– Ing. in Electrical Engineering, Institute of Technology of
Cambodia (ITC)
– Master of Engineering (M. Eng.) in Electrical Engineering ,
Chulalongkorn University (CU), Thailand
– Doctor of Engineering (D. Eng) in International Development
Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT)
• Place of work:
– Institute of Technology of Cambodia, since 2000
• Contact Address:
– Mobile Phone: 017 89 45 46
– Email: [email protected]
Optical Communication
Basic communication
Source Copper wire, air Destination

A TX Medium RX B

Optical communication
Laser, LED
Destination
Light
source Decision
Circuit B
Optical fiber
Source (SMF, MMF)
Optical Photo
A Modulator Medium detector
PIN, APD
Why Optical Communications?
• Extremely wide bandwidth: high carrier frequency (a
wavelength of 1552.5 nm corresponds to a center
frequency of 193.1 THz) & consequently larger information
capacity.
• Optical Fibers have small size & light weight.
• Optical Fibers are immune to electromagnetic interference
(high voltage transmission lines, radar systems, power
electronic systems, airborne systems, …)
• Availability of very low loss Fibers (0.25 to 0.3 dB/km), high
performance active & passive photonic components such as
tunable lasers, very sensitive photodetectors, couplers, filters,
• Low cost systems for data rates in excess of Gbit/s.
Bandwidth demands in communication systems
Type & Format Uncompressed Compressed
applications
Voice, digital 4 kHz voice 64 kbps 16-32 kbps
telegraphy
Audio 16-24 kHz 512-748 kbps 32-384 kbps
(MPEG, MP3)
Video 176 144 or 352 2-35.6 Mbps 64 kbps-1.544
conferencing 288 frames @ Mbps (H.261
10-30 frames/s coding)
Data transfer, E- 1-10 Mbps
commerce,Vide
o entertainment
Full-motion 720 480frames 249 Mbps 2-6Mbps
broadcast video @ 30 frames/s (MPEG-2)
HDTV 1920 1080 1.6 Gbps 19-38 Mbps
frames@ 30 (MPEG-2)
frames /s
Early application of Fiber Optical Communication

• Early applications of fiber optical transmission links were largely for

trunking of telephone lines.
• Digital link consisting of time division multiplexing (TDM) of voice channel
(early 1980).
SONET and SDH
• With the advent of high capacity fiber optic transmission lines in the 1980s, service
providers established a standard signal format called SONET and SDH.

• SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) is the network standard used in north America &
SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) is used in other parts of the world. These define a
synchronous frame structure for sending multiplexed digital traffic over fiber optic trunk
lines.

• The basic building block of SONET is called STS-1 (Synchronous Transport Signal) with
51.84 Mbps data rate. Higher-rate SONET signals are obtained by byte-interleaving N
STS-1 frames, which are scramble & converted to an Optical Carrier Level N (OC-N)
signal.

• The basic building block of SDH is called STM-1 (Synchronous Transport Module) with
155.52 Mbps data rate. Higher-rate SDH signals are achieved by synchronously
multiplexing N different STM-1 to form STM-N signal
SONET and SDH Transmission Rates
SONET level Electrical level Line rate (Mb/s) SDH equivalent

OC-1 STS-1 51.84 -

OC-3 STS-3 155.52 STM-1

OC-12 STS-12 622.08 STM-4

OC-24 STS-24 1244.16 STM-8

OC-48 STS-48 2488.32 STM-16

OC-96 STS-96 4976.64 STM-32

OC-192 STS-192 9953.28 STM-64

Evolution of Optical Fiber
• 1966: Kao & Hockman proved optical
waveguide was a viable transmission
medium (1000 dB/km attn.)
• 1970: Kapron, Keck & Maurer (corning Glass
Works) fabricated a silica fiber with 20
dB/km attn. @ 𝜆 = 1𝜇𝑚.
• Early 1970s: 𝜆 = 0.85𝜇𝑚, MMF, GaAs based
laser
• Late 1970s: 𝜆 = 1.3𝜇𝑚 , SMF (0.5 dB/km
attn. @ 𝜆 = 1.3𝜇𝑚), InGaAsP FB laser (multi
longitudinal modes)
• Early 1980s: 𝜆 = 1.55𝜇𝑚, SMF (0.2 dB/km
attn. @ 𝜆 = 1.55𝜇𝑚) InGaAsP DFB laser
(single longitudinal mode)
• Late 1980s: Development of coherent
detection to increase the spacing between
electronic repeaters (~60-70 km)
• Early 1990s: Invention of optical amplifiers to
increase repeater spacing (EDFA spaced at
60-100 km apart) and WDM technology to
increase transmission capacity.
Evolution of Optical Fiber
• The Figure shows the
operating range of optical
fiber systems and the
characteristics of the four
key component of a link:
– Optical fiber
– Light sources
– Photodetectors
– Optical amplifiers
Element of an Optical Fiber Link
Installation of Fiber
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)

• The use of WDM offers a further boost in fiber transmission

capacity.
• WDM allows multiple sources operating at slightly different
wavelengths to transmit several information streams over the same
fiber.
Optical Fiber vs. Copper Wire
• Advantages:
– Lower transmission loss:
• Longer distance reduce number of repeaters less equipment & components
 decrease system cost and complexity
– Small size: hair sized dimensions
– Light weight: favorable in aircraft, satellite and military applications
– High degree of data security
• Optical signal is well confined within waveguide attractive in banking, computer
networks and military systems
– Immune to EMI: dielectric material
– Abundant raw material: silica
• Disadvantages:
– Use in combination with other expensive optical and optoelectronic
componentsexpensive network
Applications
• High speed data lines
– Faster database access & web browsing
– Video teleconferencing
– Cable TV (100s ch), High definition TV, movies on demand
– Enable live web casting
• Secured private networks
– Provide confidential data transfer and file sharing
– E.g., banks, financial companies and military systems
• Transoceanic optical fibers:
– Global connectivity
– Larger bandwidth clear signals
– Efficient cost sharing per bandwidth  affordable services
Optical Network Configurations
• Transoceanic trunk lines: point to point transmission
• Core, Back bone networks: mesh topology
• Metro networks: ring topology
• Access networks: tree topology

Trunk lines
Metro

Access
Overview of Optical Fiber
Optical Fiber structure

Jacket

Fiber materials:
• Glass: Core ( n1 )
Cladding ( n2 )

• SiO2 and oxide dopants

(GeO2,P2O5&B2O3
• Doping concentration changes n1 and 125 μm 125 μm
n2 8 μm
50 μm
• Much lower attenuation and higher 8/125 50/125
bandwidth
• Plastic
• Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA POF) 125 μm 62.5 μm 140 μm 100 μm
or Perfluorinated polymer (PFP POF)
• Durable and inexpensive parts 62.5/125 100/140
Single Mode and Multimode Fibers
 multimode step index Index profile Fiber cross section and Ray paths
• Diameter:
• Core: 50-200 um
• Cladding: 125-400um

(a) Multimode step index fiber

 multimode graded index

• Diameter:
• Core: 50-100um
• Cladding: 125-140um (b) Multimode graded index fiber

 single-mode step index

• Diameter:
• Core: 8-12 um
• Cladding: 125 um (c) Single-mode fiber
Comparison of SMF and MMF
• SMF • MMF
– Only 1 mode of – Many propagating modes
propagation pulse spreading due to the
offer a larger bandwidth intermodal dispersion (each
only suffer from the mode travels at different
chromatic dispersion velocity)
– Smaller core radius – Larger core radius
Difficult to launch and Easier to launch optical
couple optical power into power into fiber
fiber core Easier to connect or splice
Difficult to connect or fibers
splice fibers Can use LED (cheaper than
Require expensive light laser diode)
source like laser diode
Basic Optical Law
• Speed of light in vacuum: c=3x10^8 m/s
• Speed of light in dielectric medium 𝑣 ≤ 𝑐
𝑐
• Index of refraction: 𝑛 =
𝑣
• 𝑛𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 1, 𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 1.33, 𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 = 1.5
• Snell’s law:
• 𝑛1 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜙1 = 𝑛2 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜙2
• Case 𝑛1 > 𝑛2
when 𝜙1 = 𝜙𝑐 (critical angle)
 𝜙2 = 90
Total Internal Reflection (TIR)
• Case: optical fiber (𝑛1 > 𝑛2 > 𝑛𝑎𝑖𝑟 )
• Use TIR to guide light within the waveguide (core)
• Require the entrance angle ≤ 𝜃0,𝑚𝑎𝑥  𝜙 ≥ 𝜙𝑐

Numerical aperture (NA)

𝑁𝐴 = 𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃0,𝑚𝑎𝑥
= (𝑛1 2 −𝑛2 2 )1/2
Attenuation Mechanisms in Fibers
• Absorption:
– By atoms of fiber material, impurity atoms, and atomic
defects in glass composition
• Scattering
– Arise from microscopic variation in material density and
compositional fluctuations
– Structural imperfections or defects during fiber
manufacturer.
• Radiative losses
– Perturbation of fiber geometry
• Macroscopic bending
• Microscopic bending
Attenuation Mechanisms in Fibers
• Macrobending Loss: The curvature of the bend is much larger than fiber
diameter. Lightwave suffers sever loss due to radiation of the evanescent field
in the cladding region. As the radius of the curvature decreases, the loss
increases exponentially until it reaches at a certain critical radius. For any
radius a bit smaller than this point, the losses suddenly becomes extremely
large. Higher order modes radiate away faster than lower order modes.
Attenuation Mechanisms in Fibers
• Microbending Loss: microscopic bends of the fiber axis that can arise when
the fibers are incorporated into cables. The power is dissipated through the
microbended fiber, because of the repetitive coupling of energy between
guided modes & the leaky or radiation modes in the fiber.
Optical Fiber Attenuation
• Power P(z) decreases exponentially with distance z
Power
(mW)
P(0)

P(z)

0 z
Distance (km)

Optical fiber attenuation :

𝛼: attenuation coefficient (expressed in
dB/km)
𝛼𝑍
− 10
𝑃 𝑧 =𝑃 0 10
dBm versus dB
• dB is a relative value • dBm is an absolute value
• 𝑋𝑑𝐵 = Power ratio • 𝑋𝑑𝐵𝑚 = Power level
= 10𝑙𝑜𝑔10
𝑃2 = 10𝑙𝑜𝑔10 𝑃/1𝑚𝑊
𝑃1 Note: Reference level is 1 mW
Note: (P2/P1) is unit less
Optical fiber attenuation: 𝛼 expressed in dB/km
𝛼𝑍
−
𝑃 𝑧 = 𝑃 0 10 (mW) if P(0) measured in mW
10

Divided by 1 mW and take 10log10 (power ratio)

𝑃 𝑧 |𝑑𝐵𝑚 = 𝑃 0 |𝑑𝑏𝑚 − (𝛼z)|dB
Power
(mW) Note: dBm=dBm+/-dB, no dB multiplication
P(0)

P(z)

0 z
Distance (km)
Optical Fiber Modes
Cladding: n2
Lower order mode
HE11 mode

Higher order mode

Core: n1
Cladding: n2

• Ray Optics Theory • Wave Theory

– Use Snell’s law to find the critical – Requires the phase matching
angle condition
– Any incoming rays with angle • All points on the same phase front of
bigger than critical angle can a plan wave must be in phase
propagate – Only waves at certain discrete
– It seems an infinite number of angle bigger than critical angle can
modes can propagate propagate
• Only a finite number of modes
can propagates
Symmetrical –Slab Waveguide Modes

• Simple Model:
– The slab waveguide has its cross-sectional view looking the same as the cross
sectional view of an optical fiber but along its axis.
• Field pattern modes:
– Derive from Maxwell’s equations
– Solutions are lower order transverse electric (TE) modes
• Harmonic variation in the core and exponential decay in the cladding
• Lower order modes: field are tightly concentrated near the center, with little penetration
into the cladding
• Higher order modes: fields are distributed more toward the edges and penetrate further
into the cladding
Optical Fiber Waveguide Analysis
• Optical fiber modes are classified as:
– Guided modes: propagate in the core  core modes
• Use these core modes for signal transmission
– Radiation modes: radiated power trapped in the cladding 
cladding modes
• Mode coupling between the higher order core modes and the
cladding modes causes power loss from the core modes
– Leaky modes: partially confined to the core, and attenuated by
continuously radiating power out of the core along the fiber
(tunnel effect).
• A guided mode must has its propagation factor 𝛽 satisfied
the condition: 𝑛2 𝑘 < 𝛽 < 𝑛1 𝑘 where 𝑘 = 2𝜋/𝜆
– The cutoff condition (when 𝛽 = 𝑛2 𝑘) separates guides modes
from leaky modes
Normalized Frequency (V number)

• V number determines the

number of modes a fiber
can support
2𝜋𝑎
𝑉=( )(𝑛1 2 − 𝑛2 2 )1/2
𝜆
– When 𝑉 ≤ 2.405 only the
HE11 modes exists  SMF
– When V is large, the number
of modes in a MMF, 𝑀~𝑉 2 /2
Exercises
• A step index fiber has a normalized frequency V=26.6
at a 1300nm wavelength. If the core radius is 25um, let
us find the number of mode and the numerical
aperture.
• A manufacturer wishes to make a silica core, step index
fiber with V=75 and a numerical aperture NA=0.30 to
be used at 820nm. If n1=1.458, what should be the
core size and cladding index be?
• Find the core radius necessary for a single mode
operation at 1320 nm of step index fiber with n1=1.480
and n2=1.478. What ate the numerical aperture and
maximum acceptance angle of this fiber?
Exercises
• A step index MMF with a numerical aperture
of 0.20 supports approximately 1000 modes at
an 850 nm wavelength.
– What is the diameter of its core?
– How many modes does the fiber support at 1320
nm?
– How many modes does the fiber support at 1550
nm?
Signal Distortion in Optical Fiber

• As the optical pulses travel along a fiber, they get attenuated due to the
optical power attenuation, and become broadened due to the intra modal
dispersion (in SMF) and the intermodal dispersion (in MMF)
Intramodal & Intermodal Dispersions
• Intramodal dispersion:
– Pulse spreading occurs within a single mode  single mode transmission.
– A.k.a group velocity dispersion or chromatic dispersion
– Wavelength dependent: different 𝜆 travels at different speed
– Distortion increases with spectral width 𝛼𝜆 of light source
• 𝛼𝜆,𝐿𝐸𝐷 ≫ 𝛼𝜆,𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑒 ≫> 𝛼𝜆,𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑟
– Two main causes:
• Material dispersion: depend on 𝑛(𝜆)=variation of refractive index as a function of 𝜆
• Waveguide dispersion: depend on fiber design (different 𝛽)
– ~20% optical power propagates in cladding, which is faster than the 80% power confined to
core.
• Intermodal dispersion:
– Each mode having a different value of group velocity at a single frequency.
– The steeper angle of propagation  the higher mode number  the slower
axial group velocity.
– Occurs only in multimode fibers and it’s the major source of dispersion
Material & Waveguide Dispersions

• Typical waveguide dispersion and the common material dispersion of three

different SMF designs
Material & Waveguide Dispersions

• Resultant total optical fiber dispersions =material dispersion + waveguide

dispersion
Optical Fiber Dispersion
• Dispersion D defines the optical pulse spreading
as a function of 𝜆
1 𝑑𝜏𝑔 𝑑 1 2𝜋𝑐
• 𝐷= = = −( 2 )𝛽2
𝐿 𝑑𝜆 𝑑𝜆 𝑉𝑔 𝜆
– It gives the total time delay 𝜏𝑔 per unit length L
between each spectral component 𝑑𝜆 which travels at
a different group velocity 𝑉𝑔
– Unit is in picosecond per km per nm (ps/(km.nm))
– The factor 𝛽2 = 𝑑 2 𝛽/𝑑𝜔2 is the group velocity
dispersion (GVD) parameter
Light Sources
Optical Communication
Laser, LED
Destination
Light
source Decision
Circuit B
Optical fiber
Source
(SMF, MMF)
Optical Photo
A Modulator Medium detector
PIN, APD
• Optical Transmitter:
– Light source: fixed & stable 𝜆, spectral width 𝛼𝜆 , max. 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 , etc.
• Example: LED, Laser
– Optical modulator: direct or external modulation, mod. BW
– Drive circuitry: electrical amplifier and mod. scheme
– Signal generator & encoder: SONET standard frames.
• Design factor: $$$ device cost, circuit complexity, power consumption,
data transmission performance, dimension and packaging, and scalability.
Light Sources
• LED and semiconductor laser diodes:
– Heterojunction structure: 2 adjoining semiconductor
materials with different band gap energies.
• In the active (light emitting) region: forward biased P-N junction
constructed of direct-band gap III-V semiconductor materials.
– Compatible dimension (~um) with optical fiber
• Achieve a good power coupling from lase to fiber
– Adequate optical Pout (0-16 dBm) for a wide range of
application.
– Possible direct modulation by varying input current 𝐼𝐷
– Have a high efficiency in power conversion from 𝐼𝐷 to
photons
Review of Semiconductor Physics

• a) Energy level diagrams showing the excitation of an electron from the

valence band to the conduction band. The resultant free electron can freely
move under the application of electric field.
• b) Equal electron & hole concentrations in an intrinsic semiconductor
created by the thermal excitation of electrons across the band gap
N Type Semiconductor

a) Donor level in an n-type semiconductor.

b) The ionization of donor impurities creates an increased electron concentration distribution.
P Type Semiconductor

a) Acceptor level in an p-type semiconductor.

b) The ionization of acceptor impurities creates an increased hole concentration distribution
PN Junction
Electron diffusion across a pn junction
creates a barrier potential (electric field)
in the depletion region.
Reverse biased PN Junction

A reverse bias widens the depletion region, but allows minority carriers to move freely with the applied field.
Forward Biased PN Junction

Lowering the barrier potential with a forward bias allows majority carriers to diffuse across the junction.
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• For optical communication requiring data rate
100-200Mb/s with multimode fiber with tends
of microwatts, LED are usually the best choice.
• LED configurations being used in optical
communications:
– Surface Emitter
– Edge Emitters
LED Structure

Cross-section drawing of a typical

GaAlAs double heterostructure light
emitter. In this structure, x>y to provide
for both carrier confinement and optical
guiding.
b) Energy-band diagram showing the
active region, the electron & hole
barriers which confine the charge carriers
to the active layer.
c) Variations in the refractive index; the
lower refractive index of the material in
regions 1 and 5 creates an optical barrier
around the waveguide because of the
higher
band-gap energy of this material.
1.240
 ( m) 
E g (eV )
Surface Emitting Diode

Schematic of high-radiance surface-emitting LED. The active region is limitted

to a circular cross section that has an area compatible with the fiber-core end face.
Edge Emitting LED

Edge emitting LED has 𝜎𝜆 narrower

than Surface emitting LED

Schematic of an edge-emitting double heterojunction LED. The output beam is

lambertian in the plane of junction and highly directional perpendicular to pn junction.
They have high quantum efficiency & fast response.
Spectral Width of LED
LED vs. Laser diodes
• Incoherent light (broad 𝜎𝜆 and large beam
divergence)
• Lower data bit rate
• Lower optical 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡
• Less expensive fabrication with higher yields
• Less complex drive circuitry (require no
thermal or wavelength stabilization circuits)
Laser Diode
• Laser is an optical oscillator. It comprises a resonant optical
amplifier whose output is fed back into its input with matching
phase.
• Three main process in laser: Absorption, Spontaneous emission,
and Stimulated emission
• Laser diode is an improved LED, in the sense that uses stimulated
emission in semiconductor from optical transitions between
distribution energy states of the valence and conduction bands with
optical resonator structure such as Fabry-Perot resonator with both
optical and carrier confinements.
Transition Processes in Laser Action
Excited state

Ground state

• In thermal equilibrium
– Low density of excited electrons, most incident photons are absorbed  negligible stimulated
emission
– Optical emission is mainly because of the spontaneous emission.
• Non equilibrium
– Use the pumping technique of injecting electrons into material to fill the lower energy states
of conduction band  population inversion stimulated emission>> absorption
Fabry Perot Laser
• Optical feedback: FP resonator cavity
– Cleaved crystal ends partially reflecting
• Many resonant frequencies
Distributed Feed Back Laser
• In DFB lasers, the optical resonator structure is due to the
incorporation of Bragg grating or periodic variations of the
refractive index into multilayer structure along the length of
the diode single resonant frequency Single mode laser
Lasing Condition
• To determine the lasing condition and resonant frequencies, we should
focus on the optical wave propagation along the longitudinal direction, z-
axis. The optical field intensity, I, can be written as:

I ( z, t )  I ( z )e j (t  z ) where I ( z)  I (0) exp g (h )   (h )z 

• Lasing is the condition at which light amplification becomes possible by

virtue of population inversion. Then, stimulated emission rate into a given
EM mode is proportional to the intensity of the optical radiation in that
mode. In this case, the loss and gain of the optical field in the optical path
determine the lasing condition. The radiation intensity of a photon at
energy ℎ𝜈 varies exponentially with a distance z amplified by factor g,
and attenuated by factor 𝛼 according to the following relationship:
Lasing Condition
Lasing occurs when the gain of guided modes exceeds the optical loss during one round
trip through the cavity (z=2L)

R1 n1 R2

Z=0 n2 Z=L

I (2L)  I (0) R1R2 exp g (h )   (h )(2L)

 : Optical confinemen t factor, g : gain coefficien t
2
n n 
α : effective absorption coefficien t, R   1 2 
 n1  n2 
R is called mirror reflectivity or Fresnel reflection coefficient
Lasing Conditions:
I (2 L)  I (0)
exp(  j 2 L)  1
Threshold Gain and Current density

1  1 
g th    ln  
2 L  R1 R2 

Laser starts to " lase" if : g  g th

For laser structure with strong carrier confinement, the threshold current
Density for stimulated emission can be well approximated by:

gth  J th
 : constant depends on specific device construction
Output Power-Drive Current Curve
• The relationship
between optical output
power (P) and diode
drive current (I) is
determined by
examining the rate
equations that govern
the interaction of
photons and electrons
in the active region
Semiconductor laser rate equations
• Rate equations relate the optical output power, or # of photons per unit
volume, Φ to the diode drive current or # of injected electrons per unit
volume, n. For active (carrier confinement) region of depth d, the rate
equations are:
d 
 Cn  Rsp 
dt  ph
Photonrate stimulated emission spontaneous emission photonloss

dn J n
   Cn
dt qd  sp
electron rate  injection  spontaneous recombination  stimulated emission

C : Coefficient expressing the intensity of the optical emission & absorption process  ph : photon life time
Rsp : rate of spontaneous emission into the lasing mode J : Injection current density
Threshold current Density & excess electron density

• At the threshold of lasing:   0, d / dt  0, Rsp  0

1
 Cn   /  ph  0  n   nth
C ph

• The threshold current needed to maintain a steady state threshold

concentration of the excess electron, is found from electron rate equation
under steady state condition dn/dt=0 when the laser is just about to lase:

J th nth nth
0   J th  qd
qd  sp  sp
Laser operation beyond the threshold
J  J th

• The solution of the rate equations gives the steady state photon
density, resulting from stimulated emission and spontaneous
emission as follows:

 ph
s  ( J  J th )   ph Rsp
qd
Homework
• A laser structure that have strong carrier confinement, the
threshold current density for stimulated emission 𝐽𝑡ℎ can be a good
approximation be related to the lasing threshold optical gain 𝑔𝑡ℎ by
𝑔𝑡ℎ =𝛽𝐽𝑡ℎ , where 𝛽 is a constant that depends on the specific
construction. Consider a GaAs laser with an optical cavity of length
250um and width 100um. At the normal operating temperature,
the gain factor 𝛽 = 21. 10−3 𝐴/𝑐𝑚3 and the effective absorption
coefficient 𝛼 = 10/𝑐𝑚.
1. If the refractive index is 3.6 find the threshold current density and
the threshold 𝐼𝑡ℎ . Assume the laser end faces are uncoated and
the current is restricted to the optical cavity.
2. What is the threshold current if the laser cavity width is reduced
to 10 um?
External quantum efficiency

• Number of photons emitted per radiative electron-hole pair

recombination above threshold, gives us the external quantum
efficiency.

i ( g th   )
ext 
g th
q dP dP(mW )
  0.8065[ m]
E g dI dI (mA )

• Note that: i  60%  70%; ext  15%  40%

Laser Resonant Frequencies
• Lasing condition, namely

exp( j 2L)  1  2L  2m , m  1,2,3,...

• Assuming the resonant frequency of the mth mode is:

2n


mc
m  m  1,2,3,...
2 Ln

c 2
   m   m1    
2 Ln 2 Ln
Laser Resonant Frequencies
Wavelength spacing
between modes in a
Frequency spacing multimode laser:
between modes in a
multimode laser: 𝜆2
Δ𝜆 =
2𝐿𝑛
𝑐
Δ𝜈 =
2𝐿𝑛

 (  0 ) 2 
g ( )  g (0) exp   where  : spectral width
 2 2

Exercises
• A GaAs laser operating at 850 nm has a 500 um
length and a refractive index n=3.7. what are the
frequency and wavelength spacing. If, at half
power point 𝜆 − 𝜆0 = 2𝑛𝑚, what is the spectral
width 𝜎 of the gain?

• Answer:
• Δ𝜈 = 81𝐺𝐻𝑧
• Δ𝜆 = 0.2𝑛𝑚
• 𝜎 = 1.7𝑛𝑚
Exercices
• Using the express 𝐸 = ℎ𝑐/𝜆, show why the
FWHM power spectral width of LED become
wider at longer wavelength.
Exercises
• A GaAs laser emitting at 800 nm has a 400 um
cavity length with a refractive index n=3.6. if
the gain g exceeds the total loss 𝛼𝑡
throughout the range 750𝑛𝑚 < 𝜆 < 850 𝑛𝑚.
How many modes will exists in the laser?
Exercises
• A laser emitting at 𝜆0 = 850 𝑛𝑚 has a gain
spectral width of 𝜎 = 32 𝑛𝑚 and a peak gain
of 𝑔 0 = 50/𝑐𝑚. Plot 𝑔(𝜆) if 𝛼𝑡 = 32.2/𝑐𝑚,
show the region where lasing takes place. If
the laser is 400 um long and n=3.6, how many
modes will be excited in this laser?
Relaxation oscillation peak
• Limitation on the direct
modulation rate of laser
diodes depends on :
– Spontaneous (radiative)
carrier lifetime𝜏𝑠𝑝
• Semiconductor band
structure and carrier
concentration ~ 1ns
– Stimulated carrier lifetime
𝜏𝑠𝑡
• Optical density in the lasing
cavity ~10 ps
– Photon lifetime 𝜏𝑝ℎ
• Laser cavity length &
reflectivity ~ 2ps
Temperature variation of the threshold current

I th (T )  I z e T / T0
Linearity of Laser

Information carrying LED or Laser diode

electrical signal s(t) modulator

Optical output power:

P(t)=P[1+ms(t)]
Optical detector
Optical Communication
Laser, LED
Destination
Light
source Decision
Circuit B
Optical fiber
Source
(SMF, MMF)
Optical Photo
A Modulator Medium detector
PIN, APD
• Optical receiver:
– Photodetector: power sensitivity, detectable 𝜆 range, response time etc.,
• Example PIN and APD
– Electrical amplifier: sufficient gain detect weak signal
– Decision circuitry: sampling time and 0-1 level Vth to correctly determine data
bits
– Signal decoder: extract data from SONET standard frames
• Design Factors: $$$ device cost, circuit complexity, power consumption,
data transmission performance, dimension and packaging, and scalability.
Photodetector
• Semiconductor based Photodetectors
– Small & compatible size (~um) with optical fiber
• Achieve a good power coupling from fiber to photodetector
– Suitable material:
• Absorption 𝜆 range desired detectable 𝜆 range
– Good power sensitivity
• Sensitivity = minimum detectable optical power  SNR=1
– Fast response time
• Faster response time  higher data bit rate or larger data
bandwidth
– Small added noises
• Quantum noise or shot noise term
• Dark current noise and surface leakage current noise terms
PIN Photodetector

• Device structure: p-i-n regions

(i) region: very lightly n doped
• Large reverse bias voltage Vbias
• Wide depletion region

The high electric field present in the depletion region causes photo-generated carriers to
separate and be collected across the reverse –biased junction. This give rise to a current
flow in an external circuit, known as photocurrent.
PIN Photodetector
• Photocurrent generation:
– Free e- e+ pairs are generated
– High E-field separates carrier across the depletion region
collected photocurrent flow thru the load resistor RL
Photodetector Responsivity
𝐼𝑝 𝜂𝑞
• Responsivity: ℛ = =
𝑃0 ℎ𝜐
photocurrent generated
per unit optical power: unit
is A/W
• Strongly depends on𝜆
• Upper cutoff 𝜆𝑐 is
determined by 𝐸𝑔
ℎ𝑐 1.24
• 𝜆𝑐 = =
𝐸𝑔 𝐸𝑔 𝑒𝑉
Photodetector Responsivity
• The quantum efficiency 𝜂:
#𝑒 − − 𝑒 + 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝜂=
#𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠
𝐼𝑝
𝑞
=
𝑃0
ℎ𝜈
• Thickness of depletion layer
increases will increase
efficiency but the response
time decrease.
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
APDs internally multiply the primary
photocurrent before it enters to
following circuitry.
In order to carrier multiplication take
place, the photogenerated carriers
must traverse along a high field
region. In this region,
photogenerated electrons and holes
gain enough energy to ionize bound
electrons in VB upon colliding with
them. This multiplication is known
as impact ionization. The newly Optical radiation
created carriers in the presence of
Reach-Through APD structure (RAPD)
high electric field result in more
showing the electric fields in depletion region
ionization called avalanche effect.
and multiplication region.
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
• Internally multiply
photocurrent via the impact
Ionization
• Require a very high bias ~50
volts
• A photogenerated 𝑒 − or 𝑒 +
gains enough energy through a
high E field, so that it ionizes
bound electrons in the valence
band upon collision
• The newly created carriers are
also accelerated by the high E
field, thus cause further
impact ionization  Avalanche
Effect
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
• The multiplication factor (current gain) M for all carriers generated in the
photodiode is defined as:
IM
M 
Ip
• Where I M is the average value of the total multiplied output current & I P
is the primary photocurrent.

• The responsivity of APD can be calculated by considering the current gain

as:

q
 APD  M  0 M
h
Photodetector Noises
• Detection of weak optical
signal requires that the
photodetector and its
following amplification
circuitry be optimized for a
desired signal-to-noise ratio.
• It is the noise current which
determines the minimum
optical power level that can
be detected. This minimum
detectable optical power
defines the sensitivity of
photodetector. That is the
optical power that generates S signal power from photocurrent
a photocurrent with the 
N photodetector noise power  amplifier noise power
amplitude equal to that of
the total noise current
(S/N=1)
Signal Calculation
• Consider the modulated optical power signal P(t) falls on the photodetector
with the form of:
P(t )  P0 [1  ms(t )]
• Where s(t) is message electrical signal and m is modulation index.
Therefore the primary photocurrent is (for pin photodiode M=1):
q
iph  MP(t )  I P [DC value]  i p (t )[AC current ]
h

• The root mean square signal current is then:

 ip M   s
2 2 2 2
is
m 2 I P2
 p 
2 2
ip for sinusoidal signal
2
Noise sources in Photodetector
• The principal noises associated with photodetectors are :
1- Quantum (Shot) noise: arises from statistical nature of the production and
collection of photo-generated electrons upon optical illumination. It has been shown
that the statistics follow a Poisson process.
2- Dark current noise: is the current that continues to flow through the bias circuit
in the absence of the light. This is the combination of bulk dark current, which is
due to thermally generated e and h in the pn junction, and the surface dark
current, due to surface defects, bias voltage and surface area.
• In order to calculate the total noise presented in photodetector, we should sum up
the root mean square of each noise current by assuming that those are uncorrelated.

• Total photodetector noise current=quantum noise current +bulk dark current

noise + surface current noise
Noise Calculation
• Quantum noise current (lower limit on the sensitivity):

  Q  2qI P BM F (M )
2 2 2
iQ
B: Bandwidth, F(M) is the noise figure and generally is F ( M )  M 0  x  1.0
x
•

• Bulk dark current noise:

  DB  2qI D BM 2 F ( M )
2 2
i DB
Note that for pin photodiode
I D is bulk dark current
M 2 F (M )  1
• Surface dark current noise: IL is the surface current.

  DS  2qI L B
2 2
i DS
Noise Calculation
• The total rms photodetector noise current is:

  N  iQ  i DB  i DS
2 2 2 2 2
iN
 2q( I P  I D ) BM 2 F ( M )  2qI L B

• The thermal noise of amplifier connected to the photodetector is:

4k BTB
 T 
2 2
iT
RL

RL input resistance of amplifier, and k B  1.38  10 23 JK -1 is Boltzmann cte.

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
• Having obtained the signal and total noise, the signal-to-noise-ratio can be
written as:

2
S iP M 2

N 2q( I P  I D ) BM 2 F ( M )  2qI L B  4k BTB / RL

• Since the noise figure F(M) increases with M, there always exists an
optimum value of M that maximizes the S/N. For sinusoidally modulated
signal with m=1 and F ( M )  M x :

x2 2qI L  4k B T / RL
M 
xq ( I P  I D )
opt
Example
• An InGaAs pin photodiode has the following
parameters at a wavelength of 1300 nm:
𝐼𝐷 = 4 𝑛𝐴, 𝜂 = 0.9, 𝑅𝐿 = 1000Ω, and the
surface leakage current is negligible. The
incident optical power is
300 𝑛𝑊 (−35 𝑑𝐵𝑚), and the receiver
bandwidth is 20 𝑀𝐻𝑧. Let us find the various
noise terms of the receiver.
Photodetector Response Time
• The response time of a photodetector with its output circuit depends mainly
on the following three factors:
1- The transit time of the photocarriers in the depletion region. The transit
time 𝑡𝑑 depends on the carrier drift velocity 𝑣𝑑 and the depletion layer
width w, and is given by:
w
td 
vd
2- Diffusion time of photocarriers outside depletion region.
3- RC time constant of the circuit. The circuit after the photodetector acts
like RC low pass filter with a passband given by:

1
B
2RT CT
RT  Rs || RL and CT  Ca  Cd
Photodiode response to optical pulse

Typical response time of the

photodiode that is not fully depleted
Various Optical Responses of
photodetectors
• To achieve a high quantum
efficiency, the depletion layer
width must be larger than 1 /  s
(the inverse of the absorption
coefficient), so that most of the
light will be absorbed. At the
same time with large width, the
capacitance is small and RC time
constant getting smaller, leading
to faster response, but wide
width results in larger transit time
in the depletion region. Therefore
there is a trade-off between
width and QE. It is shown that
the best is:

1/  s  w  2 /  s