PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, VOL. 58, NO.

10, OCTOBER 1970

1513

Optical Waveguide Transmission

DETLEFGLOGE,
MEMBER,IEEE
Abstract-As optical communication systems an, being studied in more detail, the need for many different types of optical waveguides becomes apparent. The applications range from.miniatureoptical circuit connections to long-distance high-capacity transmission links. The requirements with respect to cost attenuation, dispersion, or flexibility are vastly different. As different as the specifications are the guides evolving for various purposes. We describe the state of the art and give a survey of those guides which show the greatest future potential.

M E T A L OR G L A S S W A L L

(a)

I. INTRODUCTION T LOWER frequencies there are two possible methods of transmission for light waves. One is the waveguide method,theother is propagation of free beams. Strictly speaking, most traditional optics use the propagation of free beams. Optical interconnections, even over distances as short as few a inches across the laboratory table, are made by light beams directed and focused by mirrors or lenses. The reason for this is that at micrometer wavelengths all the components needed for this form of transmission have convenientdimensions. True, the surface tolerances are within fractions of micrometers, but centuries of lens-makingart have reducedthis problem to a matterof course. Moreserious are the problems of ambient temperature gradients, acoustical effects and mechanical vibrations. Another reason why one looks for substitutes to the freebeam approach is the effort to miniaturize optical circuits for signal processing applications. Another example of the preference given to the free-beam method at optical wavelengths is found in later sections of this paper. Most structures suggested there for longdistance optical communication resemble miniatureradio relay systems enclosed in pipes. In these pipes, the beams propagate freely between periodic lens or mirror arrangements. Unlike the antennas in microwave radio systems, each lens or mirror collects virtually all the power radiated from the previous element. Hence, the losses are very small. It seems unlikely that any continuous optical guiding method could achieve comparable loss figures. Nevertheless, there will be transmission systems for which attenuation may not be the most important factor. Interoffice connections within cities arean example. In urban areas the right of way is costly and environmental influences are hard to control. Continuously guidmg structures may be more flexible, less sensitive,and consequently, a less expensivetransmission medium in this situation. 11. HOLLOW WAVEGUIDES Until now technological difficultieshavediscouraged most people fromstudying hollow waveguidessmaller than several millimeters in diameter. This diameter corresponds
Manuscript received May 26, 1970. The author is with Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., Holmdel, N. J. 07733.

(b) Fig. 1. Optical waveguides utilizing (a) reflecting walls and (b) total internal reflection.

to thousands of optical wavelengths, and a guide of this dimension transmits a vast number of modes. The modes of lowest loss, far from cutoff, can be conveniently described by the ray representation illustrated in Fig. 1. These rays follow zigzag paths along the guide reflected by the wall at grazing angles which are very small, though slightly different, for every mode. The grazing reflection causes relathese tively small loss both at metal or glass wallsso that for modes the attenuation is only a few decibels per kilometer [ 11. Propagating selectively one or a few ofthese high-order modes requires very tight tolerances with respect to bends and irregularities in the overmoded guide [ 2 ] , [3]. On the other hand, the attenuation increases only moderately if grazing angles up to 1 are tolerated [l 1. Wall deformations, pipe offsets, and bends all increase the grazing angle and, in addition, transform meridional rays into skew rays [4]. Yet their effect on spread and attenuation is minor if the input beam has adivergence of l o to begin with. In this case, for example, a bending radius of 500 meters should cause less than 1 dB/km additional loss in a pipe several centimeters in diameter [5]. Experiments have been performed with a 100-meter glass tube, 2 cm in diameter, which had a reflective coating of aluminum inside [6]. The statistical wall deformations of the unpolished glass wall were of the order of 10 pm. A loss of 57 dB/km was measured when a He-Ne laser beam at 0.63-pm wavelength wasinjected with a divergence of 0.2". Data on the delay distortion introduced by this pipe are not available, but anupper limit on the groupdelay can be obtained by comparing the longest and shortest ray path in Fig. l(a). This yields a time spread per unit length of
O

t=!t ( ' Lcos - - le )

where u is the velocity of light in the hollow waveguide.For

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1970

a divergence angle of 1" one has 8 = 0.5" and t = 0.25 ns/km. The corresponding bandwidth limitation restricts pipes of this kind to systems of fairly modest capacity. 111. SURFACE WAVEGUIDES Rather thanusing the reflection at a metallic wall one can guide electromagnetic wavesby total internal reflection. This is accomplished when the waves propagate in a cylindrical core made of a material of higher refractive index than the surrounding dielectric. Fig. l(b) illustrates the propagation mechanism. The critical angle for total internal reflection is givenby Snell's law
COS

"I

B k

SIUGLE MODE OCEIATION

n e, = 2 n1

nt

ko

where n , and n2 are the refractive indices in core and clad<nl. modes of a cladded fiber with n - n, < ding, respectively.Only rays propagating at grazing angles smaller than the critical angle stay in the core following zigzag paths in the core material. There is an evanescent field. HE, mode has no cutoff. The data given in the following otherin the cladding, but as long as the interfaceis pedectly are for this typical single mode fiber unless specified. wise. cylindrical no .energy is lost by radiation. Attenuation results more from the propagationloss incore and cladding. Delay distortion is the reason why singlemode guides are than from loss at the interface. Two decades of fiber-optics -desirable for optical communication purposes. Sustaining research aimed at incoherent image transmission have pro- only one desired mode or mode group in an overmoded fiber vided a considerable body of experience in this respect [7]. seems impossible because of mavoidable mode conversion. For communication purposes, however, even lowerattenu- An estimate of the maximum possible group delay of an ation and tighter tolerances are required. New thinking is overmoded fiber can be obtained from (1) by introducing necessarywithrespect to the influence of dispersion on the relation (2) for the critical angle. From this a time delay per unit length between the longest and the shortest path modulated light waves. At first glance, the cladding around the core seems length results whichis unnecessary since free space as the outside medium exhibits 1 n1 t, = - ( n , - n2) both a low refractive index and lowhss. Yet apart from the c n2 difficulty of supporting. an uncla&*r without disturbing the outside field, there is another gwd.reason toprovide a where c is the velocity,of light in vacuum. An overmoded cladding. Like hollow metallic waveguides, dielectric fibers fiber withan index differenceof 1 percent could have a time sustain a number of modes whose propagation characteris- spread as large as 50 ns/km. In this case, the bandwidth of about 10 MHz. tics depend on the ratio between the core wavelength a l-km fiber is The alternative is single mode operation. If a glass with A/n1 and the core radius a. In the simplified picture of Fig. l(b), modes can be understood as propagating along differ- little natural dispersion is chosen, the bandwidth is limited ent zigzag paths characterized by discrete grazing angles. by the dispersion of the normal mode itself. Fig.2 shows the Since onlythoseamdes with angles smaller than the critical dispersion characteristics of the first few modes. Plotted is angle propagatqxeducing the critical angle reduces the the normalized propagation constant j?/k versus the parameter ka(nf -ni)'I2 which is proportional to the angular number of modes. More specifically, the term 2d,a/(A/n,) will determines the cutoff.If, far example, this term is made frequency o. Since optical communication systems operated with pulseslong compared to a light smaller than the first root of thezewth order Bessel function, most likely be only one mode will propagate [8]. Consequently, using (2) cycle, let us restrict our further discussion to this mode of and the free-propagation constant k = 2 4 A , the single mode operation. These pulses are not affected by a linear dispersion characteristic. Yet the second derivative of the B-o condition can be written in the form. function is critical. It is the change in group velocity within ka(n: - ni)1'2 < 2.4. (3) the modulation band thatdistorts the signalenvelope; Gaussian pulses of an original half-width to spread to At optical wavelengths, the left side of (3) is kept. small through a small index difference by providing a cladding. An index differenceof 1 percent is typical. For example,the core may have an index of 1.500and the cladding 1.4&5. The critical angle is 8.1". Equation (3) is fulfilled when the core in a dispersive medium of lengthl[9]. For the single mode is several wavelengths in diameter. The cladding is usually fiber, the second derivative of B,with respect t0.w can be hundreds of wavelengths thick so that the evanescent field, computed from Fig. 2: 1. km of the single mode fiber dewhich decreases exponentially with the radius, is negligible scribed earlier widens an 8-ps pulse to 12 ps. The correat the external boundary of the cladding. The propagating sponding bandwidth would be about 50 GHz.

Fig. 2. Dispersion characteristic of the three lowest order

GLOGE: OPTICAL

I515

Work on long-distance fibers is just beginning. For traditional fiber applications, attenuations of 1000 dBjkm or more were acceptable. A reduction by almost two orders of magnitude seems necessary before experiments over distances of the order of kilometers will become feasible [lo], [ l l 1. This is primarily a material problem. Oxide glasses \ seem to be the most promising with respect to attenuation \ \ and fiber formation. Hopefully, reducing the impurity Fig. 3. Helical path in a guide with parabolic index profile. levels in these glasses (particularly transition metal ions) to levels below one part in a million will bring the absorption loss to something like 10 dB/km [lo]. Avoiding the forma- of the surrounding medium and (6)is no longer valid. Howtion of crystallites during the cooling process should reduce ever, for sufficiently large index gradients, modes exist whose the scattering loss to a few decibels per kilometer, which is fields are negligibly small at the boundary andwhich propathe theoretical limitgiven by density fluctuations in the gate entirely in the dielectric. Their attenuation isvery glass [lo]. The best reported measurement in .bulk glass nearly that of the dielectric. The fundamental mode is a samples at visible wavelengths show that the loss coefficient Gaussian beam havinga half-width forabsorptionandfor scattering are still oneorder of magnitude higher than the aforementioned target values [121,[131. Another problem still unresolved is the fiber-pulling technology. In a careful measurement, the attenuation of and the higher order modes have Laguerre-Gaussian field distributions [17]-[19]. The groupvelocities of these modes two commercially available glass samples was compared wall to that of fibers pulled from these glasses [14]. The fibers are nearly equal [20].Provided thatanabsorbent were several meters long and transmitted many modes at coating eliminates modes which interfere with the wall, the the test wavelength of 0.63 pm. In short fiber sections, the inherent delay distortion can be small. The ray representation will again help us to obtain an scattering was close to thatof the bulk material (equivalent loss 40 dB/km), but erratic scattering centers in the core- estimate of this delay. It is important to realize that there is eliminate delay. cladding interface increased the equivalent overall scatter- no index profile which could completely ing loss to 250 dB/km. The absorption loss inthe fibers was No index profile achieves equal transit times along all about equalto thatof the cladding material which was 1750 possible ray trajectories from one guide cross section to to dB/km compared to 1350 dB/km in the core. Theoretically, another [21].However, the parabolic profileisclose the fiber loss should have been close to that of the core. optimal, and a comparison of the longest and the shortest Two explanations for this discrepancy are conceivable. transit time in the parabolic guide gives a good estimate of Either the absorption in the core increased during the the time spread to be expected at optimal conditions. pulling process or, in spite of extreme care, the energy was The transit time is longest along the helical path shown in launched or eventually coupled into the cladding. Calcula- Fig. 3. The pitch angle is given bythe relation [22] tions show that if there is a roughness of the core-cladding meter of single mode fiber interface as small as 0.005 pm, one could convert 10 percent of the fundamental mode into higher mode energy which cannot propagate in the core [15]. Bends, on the other hand, cause a conversion that is The path length is by 1/ cos 8, longer than the axial path. six orders of magnitude smaller than this. This is because Considering the lower refractive index at the circumference, the stiffnessof the cladded fiber excludesbending radii one obtains the delay per unit guide length smaller than several centimeters [16].

IV. GRADED INDEX WAVEGUIDES The cladded fiber is just one example of a more general class of dielectric guides. All these guides have a refractive Inserting 8, from (8) yields index which is constant along theguide axis z, axially symmetric, and decreases monotonically with the guide radius r. This, in fact, is a sufficient condition for electromagnetic If, for example, no = 1.5 and A = 1 percent, delays of 0.75 -wave guidance. Among the possible index profiles the quans/km are possible. The corresponding bandwidth w o u l d k dratic dependence about 0.7 GHz. It is a peculiarity of the parabolicprofile that aGaussian n(r) = no 1 - A for r < a beam may follow any optical ray path in the guide, at least for acertain distance [23]. Fig. 4 shows three laser beams in is of particular interest because of its lens-like characteristic. a parabolic index guide, two of them on sinusoidal trajecThe index varies between no at the axis and no(l -A) at the tories [24]. Beams withaxial deviations comprise a number circumference where r = a . There, n(r) drops to the index of normal guide modes whosephase relations are such that

::)
9

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, OCTOBER 1970

Fig. 4. Laser beams propagating in a guide with parabolic index profile [24].

over a certain distance the energy ismaintained in a Gaussian beam. At longer distances this beam breaks up [25]. In a fiber with A = 1 percent, for example, an off-axis beam of 1-pm wavelength is expected to disintegrate within a distance of 10 meters [26]. Bends cause beam deviations from the axis [27]. Because of this and the subsequent breakup, a Gaussian beam deteriorates along a guide with randomly distributed bends. If interference with the wallis to be avoided over at least 1 km,'fibers with a useful diameter of 0.25 mm and A = 1 percent should not have curvature radii smaller than 1 meter [26]. Index gradients inside glass fiberscan be created by ionic exchange processes [24], [28], [29]. Potassium, for example, replaces thallium and sodium when a suitable glassis steeped in KN03 [30]. So far, this method has produced samples up to 10 meters long with a useful diameter of 0.25 mm and an index difference A = 1 percent. The sources for loss are basically the same as in clad fibers withthe only difference that a dielectric interface, and scattering from it, is avoided. There is, of course, a multitude of possible guides with other index profiles or combinations of the ones discussed here which might turn out to have advantages [31].

Fig. 5. High-index channels (a) induced in, and (b) deposited on, a lower-index substrate. Both are covered with a shielding layer.

TABLE I WIDTH, INDEX DIFFERENCE, AND ESTIMATED BENDING RADIUS FOR VARIOUS DIELECTRIC GUIDING CHANNELS: Channel Width Index Difference (mm)
1

Acceptable Bending Radius 14 500 14.5

0.0115

0.1 0.01

10-~

* See [35].
bedded in a substrate of index n,, as shown in Fig. 5(a), would approximate the situation reasonably well. The mode spectrum of this guide has characteristics similar to those of the cladded fiber[36]-[38].Single mode operation with channel dimensions of the order of a wavelength requires index differencesof 1 percent or less. On the other hand, the radiation loss in bends increases drastically with decreasing index difference [16], [39]. Table I illustrates this for three single mode guides of various dimensions by giving the index differences required and the bending radii acceptable for 0.25-dB loss per bend at a wavelength of 0.63 pm [35]. In miniature optical circuits, bending radii of several millimeterswill be typical and, hence, index differences of at least 1 percent should be employed in bends. Severalprocesses for achieving guiding channels are conceivable and have been studied in preliminary experiments. Glass substrates have been irradiated with protons and it was found that channels with an increased refractive index form at a certain depth in the glass depending on the energy of the radiation [MI. These channels are completely surrounded by the substrate. Thin film strips of glass sputtered on a glass substrate have been shown to guide light around bends of about 10-mm radius [41]. These films were 0.3pm thick and 20 pm wideand were formed by back sputtering using a glass fiber as a shadow mask. Thin-film evaporation has also been discussed [42], [43]. Both sputtered and evaporated film guides may employ a protective cover as shown in Fig. 5(b). This cover can be deposited in

V. FILM GUIDES A dielectric film strip provides guidance along the plane of the film. Suppose the film is a fraction of a wavelength thick and suspended in gas or vacuum. Since the energy propagates essentially outside this film there is little attenuation [32]. In order tokeep the field from spreading in the plane of the film it has been suggested to twist the film or vary its thickness or refractive index along the width [331, 1341. The problem of suspending this film in a hollow tube has not yet found a practical solution at optical wavelengths. For short optical circuit connections, delay distortion and loss is not of utmost concern and the choice of the guiding structure may bea matter of technoIogica1 convenience. Sooner or later, signal processing for communication purposes will demand optical circuits integrated into common substrates. These substrates may contain or support both the optical components and their interconnections [35]. Processes may be required which permit the simultaneousformation of complicated circuits. Using some kind of masking technique, channels with an increased refractive index could be formed in a glass substrate by ion diffusion, implantation, or exchange similar to the graded index fiber formation. A protective layer of substrate glass could be sputtered on the top surface after the mask has been removed. The diffusion would not create abrupt index steps, but the model 0f.a rectangular dielectric guide of index n, em-

GLOGE: OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE TRANSMISSION

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the same way as the film channel after the mask has been removed. A detailed description of film guides and related components can be found in [44].

VI. IRISGUIDES Short electromagnetic waves propagate in freespace with so little divergence that, even inthe millimeter-wave region, occasional interactions with the waves are sufficient to guide them along a straight pipe of practical dimensions [45]. The interaction may be in the form of irises arranged at intervals of length D , as shown in Fig. 6(a). Each iris absorbs the light outside its circular aperture of area A but transmits the remaining field. This field continues, diverging slightly because of diffraction, but is trimmed again at the next aperture. After a number ofirises, the fieldwhich experiences the lowest possible diffraction loss repeats itself at every iris. For this dominant mode field, the right curve of Fig. 7 presents computer results of the diffraction loss as a function of the parameter AIDE (see [46], [47]). For example, a linear sequence of irises 3.4 cm in diameter and positioned at 5-meter intervals, would transmit a 1-pm laser beam with less than 1-dB loss per kilometer. Scaled experiments at 8.6 mm verified this estimate but also demonstrated that, in order to achieve this, exact alignment is crucial and bends are practically intolerable [48].

(c) Fig. 6. Periodic guidance by (a) irises, (b) lenses. and (c) pairs of toroidal mirrors.

VII. GUIDES WITH SOLID LENSES OR MIRRORS Directional changes i n the iris guide could be accomplished by glass prisms or mirrors. This would introduce additional attenuation, caused mainly by the surfaces, but \ suitable coatings could reduce the loss per surface to afrac\ \ tion of a percent. Apart from the problem of directional 0.001,, I I I changes there is another good reason to have mirrors or I 1000 1 0 100 -*I* / DA some kind of refractive components in the guide. Diffraction not only causes the freely propagating beam to diverge Fig. 7. Diffraction loss per iteration of the dominant mode in an iris guide and in a confocal lens guide [48]. but also changes its phasefront. Periodic correction of this phasefront focuses the beam and reduces the divergence intensity distribution of the modes is not constant along the [491, [501. In the straight guide shown in Fig. qb), the best phase- guide axis, but shows a periodicxontraction in the middle front correction is that of ideal thin lenses with an aperture between two lenses. At this waist, the dominant Gaussian area A, whose focal length F equals half their spacing D. beam in a lens guide with focal length F and spacing D has For this confocal case, the left curve in Fig. 7 shows the a l/e radius diffraction loss per lens of the dominant mode. This loss is smaller than that in the iris guide and decreases rapidly with increasing aperture area. For areas of 4 t o 5 DE., the diffraction loss is so small that it has practically no effect on At the lenses, the field expands to the radius the propagation characteristic and the field distribution of the dominant mode. The dominant mode field at the lenses w = ( T )2i.F I2 [T4F 1 1-I4 . has a Gaussian distribution which decreases to l/e of its peak value at the radius Note that for D = 2F we arrive at the beam radius w,of the W , = (D~/Z)/. 1) (1 confocal guide. The modes have practically all the same group velocities, and delay distortion is negligible because in parabolic The attenuation of the mode is practically determined by the influence of aberrations, as observed dielectric guides, is neghgible for typical lens guides. A dethe inherent lens losses. Lens guides with sufficiently large apertures transmit more tailed description of the general theory on beam modes can than one mode with neghgible diffraction loss. These beam be found elsewhere [51], [52]. Laterally displaced lenses accomplish small directional modes have Laguerre-Gaussian field distributions similar used for automatic to the low-loss modes in a dielectric guide with parabolic changes of the beam direction. This fact is [MI. Larger directional index profile. However,in the space between the lenses, the realignment of lensguides[53],

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OCTOBER PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE,

1970

changes or bends require the insertion of special deflection devices such as prisms or the mirror arrangements shown in Fig. 6(c). Every mirror is polished and coated for aberration-free reflection and focusing at 45" incidence, and directional changes are accomplished by rotating the two mirrors of a pair with respect to each other. The lens losses comprise absorption, reflection, and scattering in the material and on the surfaces. For currently available antireflection coatings, the surface losses prevail and are of the order of 1/2 percent or 0.02 dB per lens. The same can be achievedwith good dielectric mirror coatings so that a mirror pair has about the same loss as a lens [55]. The spacing of the phase-transforming elements is limited to about 100 meters by the topography; thus, a loss coefficientof 0.2 dB/km represents a typical target value. Several experimental versions very nearly verified this value when operated at a wavelength of 0.63 pm with less than 0.5-dB/km attenuation. The beam width 2w at 0.63 pm is roughly 1 cm. The apertures used in the experiments wereseveral centimeters in diameter so that diffraction if the alignment was not perfect. losses were negligible even One experiment utilized 10 lenses spaced at intervals of 100 meters inside an evacuated conduit mounted on wooden poles above ground [56]. Another experiment simulated a mirror guide by shuttling a light pulse back and forth in.a pipe between two mirrors 100 meters apart [57]. The 400 round trips covered a distance of 80 k m . The same pipe was used to fold a laser beam between two arrays of mirrors [58]. The beam path was 6.4 km. Heterodyne and direct detection was alternately used on the signal beam returning from the guide after 64 reflections. The lack of conformity between the phasefronts of the signal and the local oscillator beam caused a signal loss ofonly 20 percent. Both the lens guide andthe mirror arrangement were equipped with schemes for automatic realignment of the beam [58], [59]. In order to simulate actual future field conditions, an experiment was performed in an 840-meter pipe 1.50 meters below the ground level [60]. The pipe was filled with air, had a diameter of 10 cm, and consisted of six 140-meter sections with lenses. No effect of air turbulence was noticed on the beam. Surface irregularities of the lenses, though smaller .than All0 in these experiments, were expected to have a cumulative effect in a long guide [61]-[63]. To test this, the cross-sectional profile of a short light beam was monitored which shuttled back and forth in the underground pipe [ a ] . The beam hada Gaussian profile when it was injected and was still approximately Gaussian when it had covered a distance of 120 km and passed 900 lenses. It seems that a gas-filled underground installation has to cope : 1) slowly varying thermal with three major instabilities [a] gradients in the ground which deflect the beam, 2) ground drifts and ground vibration, and 3) instabilities of the lens or mirror arrangements. A slight tilting of the lenses has a negligible effect on thebeam though large tilt angles, which have been suggested to reduce the reflection loss, produce appreciable astigmatism [65].

Strictly speaking, the normal mode of the periodic lens guide is a Gaussian beam propagating exactly along the straight guide axis. However, Gaussian beams of the same kind can propagate along any optical ray path in the guide. A lens which islaterally displaced by 6, for example, causes an axial beam to follow a new path which, at some positions along the guide, deviates by 26 from the axis [66]. This instability is an inherent property of lens guides in the low-loss regionand disappears only when substantial additional loss is introduced [67], [68]. N random uncorrelated displacements multiply the average deviation of the beam path by the square root of N (see [69]). An angular change 6/Fof the guide axis has the same effect on the beam path as a lens displacement 6. Several successive changes of this kind can be understood as a bend. Random bends, like lens displacements, have a cumulative effect on the beam location. Variations in the focal length or the spacing of the lenses act in a similarly cumulative way on the beamwidth [72]. In order to prevent the buildup of large beam excursions, automatic alignment schemes must be used[53], [54]. They measure the beam position at certain intervals and reposition the beam accordingly. VIII. GASLENSGUIDES So far we have overlooked one potential of lens guides which is of interest when the lenses are closely spaced. By traversing these lenses off center, the beam can follow a curved path. An offset 6 results in a bend with a radius 2 p / S . With F= 50 cm and 6 = 1 mm, we achieve a practical curvature radius of 500 meters. True, a spacing D = 2F= 1 meter results in lo00 lenses per kilometer, which ispractical only if the loss per lens is at least an order of magnitude smaller than what one achieves with hard lenses. This is why gas lenses are of interest [73]. A lenseffect results, forexample,when a gasflowing through a heated tube warms up near the walls [74], [75]. The temperature rise decreases the density and the index of refraction and generates an approximately parabolic index profile. Unfortunately, this is a transient effect. While propagating through theheated tube the profile eventually equalizes and disappears. Yetevenbefore this happens gravity begins to distort the density profile [76], [77]. To avoid this, the gas must be exhausted before the gravity effect becomes noticeable. This is the principle on which the gas lens operates which isshown in Fig. 8 [78]. The gas flow is in opposite directions in adjacent lens halves.The gas inlet is a porous pipe which guarantees uniform laminar flow in the end section of the path from inlet to outlet. This section is heated to about60" above the inputgas temperature. A focal length of 40 cm results. This provides a confocal lens arrangement with a normal mode radius of 0.4 mm at the He-Ne laser wavelength of 0.63 pm. At this wavelength, a short guide of 11 lenses was tested. The transmission characteristic was found to be good as long as the beam followed a path that deviated not more than four beam radii from the axis [78]. The counterflow

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1519

URETHANE FOAM)

,-EXHAUST GAP

1
Irn

\GAS

INLET

Fig. 8. Section of a gas lens guide showing one counterflow lens [78].

(b) Fig. 9. Multibeam transmission (a) by imaging, and (b) by arranging beams in groups [91].

lens discussed in the preceding paragraph seems to have which imagesthe transmitter field into the detector plane as Ideally, the sequence has the same more stability and less aberration thanthe thermal gradient showninFig.9(a). gas lens from which it has originated [74]. Yeteven the degrees of freedom as the one-lens system. If one allows a latter lens proved useful in testing some experimental lens few percent tolerance for the spacing or the focal lengthsof guides [79], [80]. Gentle bends with radii larger than 600 the lenses, images willnot occur exactly at every evennummeters turned out tobe feasible.The loss was unmeasurably bered lensas in the strictly confocal guide. This is acceptable small. A longer sequence of gas lenses was simulated by if only the detector plane at the end of the guide coinshuttling a light pulse back and forth through one of these cides with one of the image planes. Yet .this more general lenses [81]. After 400 transitions, an axial beam was still guide has only half the degrees of freedom, viz. [87], well collimated, but deviations from the lens axishad a dis1 C, = - A2/D2i. torting effect on the beam, indicating that the thermal gas 2 lens has considerable aberrations [25]. As mentioned It is interesting to note that this is also the number of the earlier, beam deviations from the guide axis seem unavoid-. LaguerreGaussian modes propagating in this guide. The able in a lens guide in view of the cumulative effect on the .capacity of the continuous dielectric guide with parabolic beam caused by small lens displacements. The close spacing; [87]. If i.~i&iex profile can be calculated in a similar manner of the lenses may lead to intolerable beam dexiations after :. (6) this guide has the index profile is given by relatively short distances. In this case, automatic realignment would be necessary. C, = A(zran,/i)2 (15) Several gas lenses based on various other effects. have degrees of freedom. been conceived. Among them, the quadrupole lens has reEvery degreeof freedom represents an independent chanceived the most interest [82l-[84]. Yet none of these lenses nelof information, but the numbers cited above must be has reached a degree of technical realization comparable to understood as a theoretical limit achievable only with an the thermal gas lens or its outgrowth, the counterflow ideal guide. Transmission of the natural orthogonalmodes, lens. for example, should ideally result in transmission without crosstalk. Practically, it is much simpler t o use channels TRANSMISSIW IX. MULTIBEAM which separate naturally in the transmitter and receiver In principle, the periodic lens system transmits not only plane. Of course, this cannot be a perfect separation. Coits natural modes or, spedcal@Gaussian beams, but herent sources, which produce Gaussian beams along the images of a very general nature. This is evident for one single guide, seem to be the optimal choice. At least in an ideal lens with focal length F imaging a transmitter field into a guide, this method can guarantee negligible crosstalk by detector plane [85]. Let A be the aperture area andD = 2 F exploiting about 1/100 of the theoretical capacity [87]. the distance both from the transmitter to the lens and from The unavoidable imperfections of the guide present the lens to the receiver. Then, for a coherent object field, the further limitations. We remember that a glass fiber with a density of resolvable image points is given by the band of 1-percent parabolic indexprofileshows aberrations at a spatial frequencies A/D2A2which passesthe lens pupil [86]. distance of a few meters. A detailed study of this effect and By multiplying with the image area A we obtain thenumber its influence on the channel capacity or the crosstalk is not of the spatial degrees of freedom of this optical system which available. According to our previous estimates a short secis A2/D2A2. tion of a fiber with a radius of 114 mm and 1-percent index If, instead of the receiver, another lens witha focal length difference should have10 O00 degrees of freedom and F is placed into the image plane, its exit field can be con- hence, exploiting 1/100 of the theoretical limit, results in a sidered as the transmitter for another one-lens system. A capacity of 100 beams. The. transmission of a clear image series of these combinations results in a confocal lens guide through a 1-meter fiber, 0.3 mm in diameter, has been re-

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE,OCTOBER 1970

ported, but there is no infermation on the resolution achieved [28]. The apertures of presently available gas lenses prohibit multibeam transmission through this type of guide. Typical lens guides made of conventional lenses or mirrors havenegligible aberration evenfor distances of hundreds of kilometers. Mirrors can be made 20 to 30 cm in diameter without unreasonable effort. The source of crosstalk which limits the capacity and the transmission distance of these guides is scattering from the lens or mirror surfaces. This scattering seems to be somewhat smaller for mirrors than for lenses. In bothcases itpeaks sharply in the forward direction and decreases roughly with thethird power of the deviation from this direction [88], [89]. For this reason, the crosstalk is essentially determined by the angular separation of adjacent detectors, which is called ai in Fig. 9(a). If there are Ni channels this angle is
a. =

D Ni

where D is the lens spacing. The somewhat more sophisticated transmission method sketched in Fig. 9(b) alleviates this problem [87], [90]. The beams arrange in groups and open up to the normal mode radius before they enter the guide. Special collector lenses single out the groups at the end and focus the beams well separated on the detector array. In the arrangement sketched in Fig. 9(b), there are justas many groups as there are members in every group. Consequently, if NBis the numcollector lenses and (N,) ber of channels, there are (Ng)lI2 detectors at every collector lens. The angular separation of the collector lenses as well as that of the detectors istherefore

A comparison of (16) with (17) yields N, = N? when the crosstalk in both arrangements is about equal. If Niis a
relatively large number, the increase in capacity gained by the grouping method might well justify the more complicated terminals. Calculations show that the grouping method could handle about 100 beams transmitted over a distance of 50 km with a crosstalk level of 23 dB [91]. A guide with periscopic mirror arrangements, spaced at a distance of 100 meters, is suggested for this purpose. The bundle of beams would measure about 20 cm in diameter. The estimate was based on the scattering characteristic oftypical mirror samples [89]. Yet this result seems conservative in comparison with those of a laboratory experiment in which two Gaussian beams were folded side by side into a mirror cavity, 25 meters long and 15 cm in diameter [92]. The cross30 dB after each beam talk between the two beams was only underwent 684 reflections. In view of these results multibeam transmission seems to be a feasible means of handling large numbers of optical channels in long-distance waveguides.

X. CONCLUSIONS Trying to meet future requirements, communication research is studying a variety of optical waveguides. There are three ranges of potential applications: 1) optical circuits, possibly integrated into small substrate chips; 2) medium range interconnections within buildings, blocks, or cities; and 3) long-distance transmission requiring low loss and high capacity. The guides evolving for these purposes are as different as the applications. Miniature dielectric channels imbedded in a lower index substrate may some day form the basic guide for integrated optical circuits. Curvature radii of a few millimeterscan be can be reduced achieved. If the loss coefficientin glass fibers by at least another order of magnitude, these fibers will represent a practical guide for medium range applications. An abrupt or graded index change of 1 percent within the fiber concentrates the propagating light in a central core region. Theoretically, a bandwidth of 100.GHz should be obtainable in a 1-km fiber if the propagation of higher order modes is avoided. The immediate problem is to make glasses with sufficiently low absorption. The low loss which is attractive for long-range applications can only be achieved if the light propagates partly or completely in vacuum or gas. Gas lens guidesavoid solid elements completely. The light beam is focused and guided by the refractive index profile in a heated gas stream. At the moment, instabilities and aberrations still pose a major problem. Using glass lenses or mirrors, one can build a guide which resembles an optical radio relay system enclosed ina pipe. The spacing of the phase-transforming elements is limited to about 100 meters by the topography. Dielectric coatings on the lenses or mirrors reduce the loss in both cases to less than 1 dB/km. If the effective cross section of the guide is 20 cm in diameter, up to100 light beams can be transmitted simultaneously with acceptable crosstalk. How well this guide can be aligned and kept aligned over years is a problem which is currently under investigation.
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