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Read the passage and answer the questions  that follow on your understanding of the passage :

Optical fibre communication is one among the new techniques have come up and are extensively used for communication purposes. The portion of the e.m. spectrum encompasses the optical region falls in the wavelength of 50 nm (Ultraviolet) to approximately 100 µm (Infrared) which includes visible light spectrum from 400 nm (Violet) to 700 nm (Red). The order of frequency corresponding to these wavelengths falls in the range 1014 to 1018 Hz. There are two types of transmission media used for optical communication i.e., atmospheric channel and guided wave channel. Out of the two, guided wave channel provide much more reliable and versatile medium of communication. The medium used for guided channels in optical range are non-metallic guides popularly known as optical fibre. The optical fibre link used for communication applications has several advantages over conventional copper cable links which makes possible to send much more data over long distances with negligible attenuation. Although some difficulties do exist in the making of optical fibre set and there are some challenges being faced yet this type of communication mechanism has made a great impact in the present scenario.

Which of the following are the cases of signal attenuation ?

1. Splicing
2. Intermodal Delay
3. Scattering
4. Chromatic Dispersion

This question was previously asked in
UGC NET 2014 Paper 1 Question Paper (28-Dec-2014)
The correct answer is

1 & 3

 The list contains two attenuation mechanisms and two dispersion mechanisms, and the question is really asking whether the difference is understood. The answer is 1 & 3, option 1.

ItemTypeEffect
1. SplicingAttenuationPower lost at the joint
2. Intermodal delayDispersionPulse spread in time
3. ScatteringAttenuationPower redirected out of the core
4. Chromatic dispersionDispersionPulse spread in time

The distinction in one sentence : attenuation is measured in dB/km and describes power that never arrives; dispersion is measured in ns/km and describes power that arrives late. The first limits how far a link can reach before it needs a repeater; the second limits how fast it can be modulated before adjacent pulses overlap.

Scattering — the fundamental attenuation. Rayleigh scattering arises from microscopic fluctuations in density and composition frozen into the glass as it solidified. These are smaller than a wavelength, so they redirect light out of the guided mode, and the loss varies as

\(\alpha_{R}\propto\dfrac{1}{\lambda^{4}}\)

The steep wavelength dependence is why long-haul systems moved to 1.55 µm: Rayleigh scattering there is about sixteen times weaker than at 0.8 µm, and it sets the floor of roughly 0.2 dB/km that no purification can beat.

Splicing — the practical attenuation. Every joint costs power through lateral or angular misalignment, an end gap, or Fresnel reflection at a glass-air interface. A fusion splice loses about 0.05 dB and a mechanical connector 0.3 to 0.5 dB — small individually, but a link with many connectors can lose more at its joints than in its fibre.

Why the other two are excluded. Intermodal delay arises because different modes travel different path lengths; chromatic dispersion because different wavelengths travel at different speeds. In both cases all the energy arrives — simply smeared over time. No power is lost, and the remedy is different too: dispersion is fought with single-mode fibre, narrow-linewidth sources and dispersion compensation, whereas attenuation is fought with purer glass, better splices and optical amplifiers.

Hence, the attenuation mechanisms are splicing and scattering.

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Similar Questions

  1. The core of an optical fiber has

  2. The core diameter of single mode fiber is in the order of

  3. Consider the following statements :

    Losses in optical fibers are caused by

    1. Impurities in the fibre material
    2. Microbending
    3. Splicing
    4. Step index profile

    Of these statements :

  4. Assertion (A) : Optical fibers have broader bandwidth compared to conventional copper cables.

    Reason (R) : Low power LASER beams are considered to be very powerful as compared to high power ordinary light beams.

  5. The following is true for the multimode graded index fiber :

    1. The refractive index varies as a function of radial distance from the centre.
    2. The refractive index undergoes sudden change at the cladding boundary.
    3. It provides better bandwidth and the data rate than the multimode step index.
    4. It provides the better bandwidth and data rate than single mode step index.

  6. A multimode step-index fibre has glass core (n1 = 1.5) and fused quartz cladding (n2 = 1.46), which one of the following is the value of acceptance angle ?

  7. Following is not the usual classification of an optical fibre :

  8. If numerical aperture and fractional refractive index of an optical fibre are 0.22 and 0.012, respectively. The refractive index of core (µ1) and cladding (µ2) will be

  9. An optical fibre has numerical aperture (NA) of 0.3 and refractive index $\eta_2$ of cladding material is 1.6. What is the refractive index of core material?

  10. Arrange the following materials in increasing order of refractive Index

    A. Diamond

    B. Water

    C. Air

    D. Vacuum

    Choose the correct answer from the options given below :


Important Questions from Optical Fiber

  1. What is the relation between the refractive index of core n1 and cladding n2?

  2. Graded index fiber is used to

  3. In a multimode fiber (step index), number of modes passing at an operating wavelength of 1300 nm are 1000, the refractive index of the core is 1.50 and that of the cladding is 1.48. The value of core diameter is:

  4. Fibre optic power meters have input for attaching fiber optic connector and detector:

  5. An optical fibre cable consists of three parts. One of these is a protective outercoating of the cable. Select that protective outer coating from the given options.

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