Optical transmission
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Optical communication employs a beam of modulated monochromatic light to carry information from transmitter to receiver. The light spectrum spans a tremendous range in the electromagnetic spectrum, extending from the region of 10 terahertz (104 gigahertz) to 1 million terahertz (109 gigahertz). This frequency range essentially covers the spectrum from far infrared (0.3-mm wavelength) through all visible light to near ultraviolet (0.0003-micrometre wavelength). Propagating at such high frequencies, optical wavelengths are naturally suited for high-rate broadband telecommunication. For example, amplitude modulation of an optical carrier at the near-infrared frequency of 300 terahertz by as little as 1 percent yields a transmission bandwidth that exceeds the highest available coaxial cable bandwidth by a factor of 1,000 or more.
Practical exploitation of optical media for high-speed telecommunication over large distances requires a strong light beam that is nearly monochromatic, its power narrowly concentrated around a desired optical wavelength. Such a carrier would not have been possible without the invention of the ruby laser, first demonstrated in 1960, which produces intense light with very narrow spectral line width by the process of coherent stimulated emission. Today, semiconductor injection-laser diodes are used for high-speed, long-distance optical communication.
Two kinds of optical channels exist: the unguided free-space channel, where light freely propagates through the atmosphere, and the guided optical fibre channel, where light propagates through an optical waveguide.
The free-space channel
The loss mechanisms in a free-space optical channel are virtually identical to those in a line-of-sight microwave radio channel. Signals are degraded by beam divergence, atmospheric absorption, and atmospheric scattering. Beam divergence can be minimized by collimating (making parallel) the transmitted light into a coherent narrow beam by using a laser light source for a transmitter. Atmospheric absorption losses can be minimized by choosing transmission wavelengths that lie in one of the low-loss “windows” in the infrared, visible, or ultraviolet region. The atmosphere imposes high absorption losses as the optical wavelength approaches the resonant wavelengths of gaseous constituents such as oxygen (O2), water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and ozone (O3). On a clear day the attenuation of visible light may be one decibel per kilometre or less, but significant scattering losses can be caused by any variability in atmospheric conditions, such as haze, fog, rain, or airborne dust.
The high sensitivity of optical signals to atmospheric conditions has hindered development of free-space optical links for outdoor environments. A simple and familiar example of an indoor free-space optical transmitter is the handheld infrared remote control for television and high-fidelity audio systems. Free-space optical systems also are quite common in measurement and remote sensing applications, such as optical range-finding and velocity determination, industrial quality control, and laser altimetry radar (known as LIDAR).
Optical fibre channels
In contrast to wire transmission, in which an electric current flows through a copper conductor, in optical fibre transmission an electromagnetic (optical) field propagates through a fibre made of a nonconducting dielectric. Because of its high bandwidth, low attenuation, interference immunity, low cost, and light weight, optical fibre is becoming the medium of choice for fixed, high-speed digital telecommunications links. Optical fibre cables are supplanting copper wire cables in both long-distance applications, such as the feeder and trunk portions of telephone and cable television loops, and short-distance applications, such as local area networks (LANs) for computers and home distribution of telephone, television, and data services. For example, the standard Bellcore OC-48 optical cable, used for trunking of digitized data, voice, and video signals, operates at a transmission rate of up to 2.4 gigabits (2.4 billion binary digits) per second per fibre. This is a rate sufficient to transmit the text in all the volumes of the printed Encyclopædia Britannica (2 gigabits of binary data) in less than one second.
An optical fibre communications link consists of the following elements: an electro-optical transmitter, which converts analog or digital information into a modulated beam of light; a light-carrying fibre, which spans the transmission path; and an optoelectronic receiver, which converts detected light into an electric current. For long-distance links (greater than 30 km, or 20 miles), regenerative repeaters are usually required to offset the attenuation of signal power. In the past, hybrid optical-electronic repeaters commonly were employed; these featured an optoelectronic receiver, electronic signal processing, and an electro-optical transmitter for regenerating the signal. Today, erbium-doped optical amplifiers are employed as efficient all-optical repeaters.
Electro-optical transmitters
The efficiency of an electro-optical transmitter is determined by many factors, but the most important are the following: spectral line width, which is the width of the carrier spectrum and is zero for an ideal monochromatic light source; insertion loss, which is the amount of transmitted energy that does not couple into the fibre; transmitter lifetime; and maximum operating bit rate.
Two kinds of electro-optical transmitters are commonly used in optical fibre links—the light-emitting diode (LED) and the semiconductor laser. The LED is a broad-line width light source that is used for medium-speed, short-span links in which dispersion of the light beam over distance is not a major problem. The LED is lower in cost and has a longer lifetime than the semiconductor laser. However, the semiconductor laser couples its light output to the optical fibre much more efficiently than the LED, making it more suitable for longer spans, and it also has a faster “rise” time, allowing higher data transmission rates. Laser diodes are available that operate at wavelengths in the proximity of 0.85, 1.3, and 1.5 micrometres and have spectral line widths of less than 0.003 micrometre. They are capable of transmitting at over 10 gigabits per second. LEDs capable of operating over a broader range of carrier wavelengths exist, but they generally have higher insertion losses and line widths exceeding 0.035 micrometre.
Optoelectronic receivers
The two most common kinds of optoelectronic receivers for optical links are the positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) photodiode and the avalanche photodiode (APD). These optical receivers extract the baseband signal from a modulated optical carrier signal by converting incident optical power into electric current. The PIN photodiode has low gain but very fast response; the APD has high gain but slower response.
Optical fibres
An optical fibre consists of a transparent core sheathed by a transparent cladding and by an opaque plastic protective coating. The core and the cladding are dielectrics with different indexes of refraction, the cladding having a lower index than the core. According to a standard adopted by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT), the outer diameter of a high-performance clad fibre is approximately 125 micrometres, while the core diameter typically ranges from 8 to 50 micrometres. The abrupt change in refractive index between the core and the cladding makes the inside of the core-to-cladding interface highly reflective to light rays that graze the interface. The fibre therefore acts like a tubular mirror, confining most of the propagating rays of light to the interior of the core.
The bandwidth of an optical fibre is limited by a phenomenon known as multimode dispersion, which is described as follows. Different reflection angles within the fibre core create different propagation paths for the light rays. Rays that travel nearest to the axis of the core propagate by what is called the zeroth order mode; other light rays propagate by higher-order modes. It is the simultaneous presence of many modes of propagation within a single fibre that creates multimode dispersion. Multimode dispersion causes a signal of uniform transmitted intensity to arrive at the far end of the fibre in a complicated spatial “interference pattern,” and this pattern in turn can translate into pulse “spreading” or “smearing” and intersymbol interference at the optoelectronic receiver output. Pulse spreading worsens in longer fibres.
When the index of refraction is constant within the core, the fibre is called a stepped-index (SI) fibre. Graded-index (GI) fibre reduces multimode dispersion by grading the refractive index of the core so that it smoothly tapers between the core centre and the cladding. Another type of fibre, known as single-mode (SM) fibre, eliminates multimode dispersion by reducing the diameter of the core to a point at which it passes only light rays of the zeroth order mode. Typical SM core diameters are 10 micrometres or less, while standard SI core diameters are in the range of 50 micrometres. Single-mode fibres have become the dominant medium in long-distance optical fibre links.
Other important causes of signal distortion in optical fibres are material dispersion and waveguide dispersion. Material dispersion is a phenomenon in which different optical wavelengths propagate at different velocities, depending on the refractive index of the material used in the fibre core. Waveguide dispersion depends not on the material of the fibre core but on its diameter; it too causes different wavelengths to propagate at different velocities. As is the case in multimode dispersion, described above, material and waveguide dispersion cause spreading of the received light pulses and can lead to intersymbol interference.
Since a transmitted signal always contains components at different wavelengths, material dispersion and waveguide dispersion are problems that affect not only SI and GI fibres but also SM fibres. For SM fibres, however, there exists a transmission wavelength at which the material dispersion exactly cancels the waveguide dispersion. This “zero dispersion” wavelength can be adjusted by modifying the material composition (and hence the refractive index) as well as the diameter of the fibre core. In this way SM fibres are designed to exhibit their zero dispersion wavelength near the intended optical carrier wavelength. For a CCITT standard SM fibre with an 8-micrometre core, the zero dispersion wavelength occurs near the 1.3-micrometre wavelength of certain laser diodes. Other SM fibres have been developed with a zero dispersion wavelength of 1.55 micrometres.
Noise in an optical fibre link is introduced by the photoelectric conversion process at the receiver. Losses in signal power are primarily caused by radiation of light energy to the cladding as well as absorption of light energy by silica and impurities in the fibre core.
The production process for manufacturing optical fibre is extremely demanding, requiring very close tolerances on core and cladding thickness. Although the manufacture of low-grade fibre from transparent polymer materials is not uncommon, most high-performance optical fibres are made of fused silica glass. The refractive index of either the core or the cladding is modified during the manufacturing process by diluting pure silica glass with fluorine or germanium in a process known as doping. (The manufacturing process itself is described in industrial glass: Glass forming: Optical fibres.) Several fibres can be bundled into a common sheath around a central strengthening member to form a fibre-optic cable. For fibre cables that must operate in adverse environments—for instance, undersea cables—other layers of strengthening and protecting materials may be added. These layers may include single-fibre buffer tubes, textile binder tape, moisture barrier sheathing, corrugated steel tape, and impact-resistant plastic jackets.
Alfred O. Hero