Elsevier

Optik

Volume 127, Issue 20, October 2016, Pages 9259-9263
Optik

Original research article
A comparative study of the performance of graded index perfluorinated plastic and alumino silicate optical fibers in internal optical interconnections

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2016.07.002Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper theoretically investigates a comparative analysis of the performance of both graded index perfluorinated plastic optical fiber and alumino-silicate optical fiber in internal optical interconnections operation, where these materials have low dispersion at the operating wavelength 1.3 μm. Temperature dependence of total dispersion coefficient is deeply investigated for these fibers. The temperature variations range from −50 °C to 100 °C. The obtained results show the dramatic effects of increasing ambient temperature variations on the signal quality degradation. The effects of increasing optical fiber length on optical interconnections performance efficiency and operation speed. A comparative study shows that, perfluorinated plastic optical fiber overcomes the alumino- silicate in operation performance efficiency and installation flexibility.

Introduction

Optical communication systems using Plastic Optical Fibers (POFs) have not reached their potential for a number of reasons: the rapid growth of glass optical fiber technology and because POFs have been relegated low speed and short distance applications. Graded index (GI) POFs are in a great demand in customer premises to deliver high-speed services due to their high bandwidth, single-mode operation and suitability for optical amplification. There are new POF materials with low loss, higher power and faster sources have been developed. Low-loss graded-index perfluorinated plastic optical fibers (GI PF POFs) are investigated for 100 m distance multi-Gb/s data transmission in premise networks, short-reach telecom, and computer interconnections. Several low-cost, uncooled, unisolated data communication sources, data transmission in premise networks, short-reach (<100 m) telecom and computer interconnects are dominated from copper interconnections up to 1 Gb/s data rates [1], [2].

The next future will create a huge demand for high data rate, short distance and low cost interconnections. POFs are well known as solutions for low speed data links in cars, buildings and automation. Besides its robustness to mechanical stress and electromagnetic interference, the POF benefits from easy installation, low-cost connectors and a low price [3]. The large core of the POF allows the use of inexpensive injection-molded plastic connectors, which make it possible to dramatically decrease the cost of interface devices and installation.

The most important characteristic of the optical fiber; the bandwidth, is limited by the signal dispersion within the fiber. Therefore, once the attenuation was reduced to acceptable levels attention, was directed towards the dispersive properties of fibers [4], [5]. Intermodal dispersion is one of these properties which act as a critical factor in optical fiber data transmission. POF assemblies possess special characteristics that make them an ideal solution for applications where additional glass optical fiber products are not well suited. For applications requiring a very tight bend radius [6]. POF assemblies have a core size; in some cases 100 times that of glass fiber. The increased core diameter allows 96% of the core to transmit signal from point-to-point, making it an ideal material for very high bandwidth which is the case of interconnections, signal transmission over very short distances. Also, the ease of installation and low system cost give the POFs strong advantages in computer interconnections and local area networks. Graded-index perfluorinated plastic optical fiber (GI-POF) has been developed to offer low losses (<50 dB/km) and high bandwidth at data communication wavelengths (0.85 μm, and 1.3 μm) [7].

Section snippets

Theoretical analysis

The core refractive index, n, as a function of the operating signal wavelength, λ, is defined through the Sellmeier equation which has the mathematical form [8]:n=A+Bλ2λ2−C+Dλ2λ2−Ewhere the Sellmeier coefficients of chosen materials are listed in Table 1 as functions of temperature (T in °C) and ambient absolute temperature (T0 in °C).

The propagation constant, β, for graded index optical fibers is given by Raheem [8]:β=V22Δa2−6Va2where a is the fiber core radius in μm, Δ is the relative

Results and discussions

We have deeply investigated a comparative performance study analysis of the graded index perfluorinated plastic and alumino-silicate optical fibers in internal optical fiber interconnections over a wide range of the affecting operating parameters that are listed in Table 2.

Based on the mathematical analysis and the list of operating parameters, the obtained results including BW, SNR, BER and C are displayed, respectively, in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4. From these figures, one can write:

  • i)

    Fig.

Conclusions

The influence of both ambient temperature variations and optical fiber interconnection length variations on the performance of alumino-silicate and GI-POF been deeply investigated over a wide range of the affecting parameters. As expected, increasing ambient temperature decreases the fiber bandwidth, channel capacity and signal to noise ratio and increases the bit error rate. Moreover, it is indicated that, increasing optical fiber interconnection length results in decreasing bit error rate and

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