Optical Communications

Objective Questions
1. Multimode step index fiber has [a]
a) Large core diameter & large numerical aperture
b) Large core diameter and small numerical aperture
c) Small core diameter and large numerical aperture
d) Small core diameter & small numerical aperture

2. A multimode step index fiber has a large core diameter of range [a]
a) 100 to 300 μm
b) 100 to 300 nm
c) 200 to 500 μm
d) 200 to 500 nm

3. Multimode step index fibers have a bandwidth of [b]

a) 2 to 30 MHz km
b) 6 to 50 MHz km
c) 10 to 40 MHz km
d) 8 to 40 MHz km

4. Multimode graded index fibers are manufactured from materials with [b]
a) Lower purity
b) Higher purity than multimode step index fibers.
c) No impurity
d) Impurity as same as multimode step index fibers

5. The performance characteristics of multimode graded index fibers are [a]

a) Better than multimode step index fibers.
b) Same as multimode step index fibers.
c) Lesser than multimode step index fibers
d) Negligible

6. Multimode graded index fibers have overall buffer jackets same as multimode step index fibers but
have core diameters [b]
a) Larger than multimode step index fibers.
b) Smaller than multimode step index fibers.
c) Same as that of multimode step index fibers.
d) Smaller than single mode step index fibers.

7. In single mode fibers, the most beneficial index profile is [b]

a) Step index
b) Graded index
c) Step and graded index
d) Coaxial cable

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8. The fibers mostly not used nowadays for optical fiber communication system are [a]
a) Single mode fibers
b) Multimode step fibers
c) Coaxial cables
d) Multimode graded index fibers

9. Single mode fibers allow single mode propagation; the cladding diameter must be at least [d]
a) Twice the core diameter
b) Thrice the core diameter
c) Five times the core diameter
d) Ten times the core diameter

10. Standard single mode fibers (SSMF) are utilized mainly for operation in [c]
a) C-band
b) L-band
c) O-band
d) C-band and L-band

11.Optical fibers for communication use are mostly fabricated from [b]
a) Plastic
b) Silica or multi-component glass
c) Ceramics
d) Copper

12. ______________ of the fiber is strongly dependent on the refractive index profile. [d]
a) Amplitude
b) Tuning frequency
c) Diameter
d) Information carrying capacity

13. ______________ is required in case of graded index fibers. [d]

a) High amplitude
b) High frequency
c) High impulse response
d) Optimum profile

14. Which law gives the relationship between refractive index of the dielectric? [b]
a) Law of reflection
b) Law of refraction (Snell’s Law).
c) Millman’s Law
d) Huygen’s Law

15. The light sources used in fibre optics communication are: [a]
a) LED’s and Lasers
b) Phototransistors
c) Xenon lights
d) Incandescent

16.The ________ ray passes through the axis of the fiber core. [c]
a) Reflected
b) Refracted

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c) Meridional
d) Skew

17. Light incident on fibers of angles________the acceptance angle do not propagate into the fiber [b]
a) Less than
b) Greater than
c) Equal to
d) Less than and equal to

18. What is the numerical aperture of the fiber if the angle of acceptance is 16 degree [d]
a) 0.50
b) 0.36
c) 0.20
d) 0.27

19. The ratio of speed of light in air to the speed of light in another medium is called as_________ [d]
a) Speed factor
b) Dielectric constant
c) Reflection index
d) Refraction index

20. When a ray of light enters one medium from another medium, which quality will not change [b]
a) Direction
b) Frequency
c) Speed
d) Wavelength

21. Which equations are best suited for the study of electromagnetic wave propagation? [a]
a) Maxwell’s equations
b) Allen-Cahn equations
c) Avrami equations
d) Boltzmann’s equations

22. When λ is optical wavelength in vacuum, k is given by k=2Π/λ. What does k stand for in the above
equation? [a]
a) Phase propagation constant
b) Dielectric constant
c) Boltzmann’s constant
d) Free-space constant

23. A most important velocity in the study of transmission characteristics of optical fiber is [b]
a) Phase velocity
b) Group velocity
c) Normalized velocity
d) Average velocity

24. Refraction is the [a]

a) Bending of light waves
b) Reflection of light waves
c) Diffusion of light waves
d) Refraction of light waves

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25. The phenomenon which occurs when an incident wave strikes an interface at an angle greater than
the critical angle with respect to the normal to the surface is called as [c]
a) Refraction
b) Partial internal reflection
c) Total internal reflection
d) Limiting case of refraction

26. A multimode step index fiber has a normalized frequency of 72. Estimate the number of guided
modes.
a) 2846 [b]
b) 2592
c) 2432
d) 2136

27. A graded-index fiber has a core with parabolic refractive index profile of diameter of 30μm, NA=0.2,
λ=1μm. Estimate the normalised frequency. [b]
a) 19.32
b) 18.84
c) 16.28
d) 17.12

28. A step-index fiber has core refractive index 1.46 and radius 4.5μm. Find the cutoff wavelength to
exhibit single mode operation. Use relative index difference as 0.25%. [c]
a) 1.326μm
b) 0.124μm
c) 1.214μm
d) 0.123μm

29. One of the given statements is true for intermodal dispersion. Choose the right one. [a]
a) Low in single mode and considerable in multimode fiber
b) Low in both single mode and multimode fiber
c) High in both single mode and multimode fiber
d) High in single mode and low in multimode fiber

30. For lower bandwidth applications, [d]

a) Single mode fiber is advantageous
b) Photonic crystal fibers are advantageous
c) Coaxial cables are advantageous
d) Multimode fiber is advantageous

31. Most of the optical power is carried out in ---------- region.. [Core]

32. Meridional rays in graded index fibers follow [b]

a) Straight path along the axis
b) Curved path along the axis
c) Path where rays changes angles at core-cladding interface
d) Helical path

33. What is the unit of normalized frequency? [d]

a) Hertz
b) Meter/sec

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c) Coulombs
d) It is a dimensionless quantity

34. Skew rays follow a [c]

a) Hyperbolic path along the axis
b) Parabolic path along the axis
c) Helical path
d) Path where rays changes angles at core-cladding interface

35. An optical fiber has core-index of 1.480 and a cladding index of 1.478. What should be the core
size for single mode operation at 1310nm? [d]
a) 7.31μm
b) 8.71μm
c) 5.26μm
d) 6.50μm

36. An optical fiber has a core radius 2μm and a numerical aperture of 0.1. Will this fiber operate at
single mode at 600 nm? [Yes]

37. What is needed to predict the performance characteristics of single mode fibers? [a]
a) The intermodal delay effect
b) Geometric distribution of light in a propagating mode
c) Fractional power flow in the cladding of fiber
d) Normalized frequency

38. Which equation is used to calculate MFD? [b]

a) Maxwell’s equations
b) Peterman equations
c) Allen Cahn equations
d) Boltzmann’s equations

39. A single mode fiber has mode field diameter 10.2μm and V=2.20. What is the core diameter of this
fiber? [d]
a) 11.1μm
b) 13.2μm
c) 7.6μm
d) 10.1μm

40. The difference between the modes’ refractive indices is called as [c]
a) Polarization
b) Cutoff
c) Fiber birefringence
d) Fiber splicing

41. How many propagation modes are present in single mode fibers? [b]
a) One
b) Two
c) Three
d) Five

42. Numerical aperture is ________ in case of step index fiber. [Constant]

43. Plastic fibers have ____________ attenuation than glass fibers. [Higher]

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44. Which of the following statements best explain the concept of material absorption? [a]
a) A loss mechanism related to the material composition and fabrication of fiber.
b) A transmission loss for optical fibers.
c) Results in attenuation of transmitted light.
d) Causes of transfer of optical power

45. How many mechanisms are there which causes absorption? [b]
a) One
b) Three
c) Two
d) Four

46. Absorption losses due to atomic defects mainly include- [b]

a) Radiation
b) Missing molecules, oxygen defects in glass
c) Impurities in fiber material
d) Interaction with other components of core

47. The effects of intrinsic absorption can be minimized by- [c]

a) Ionization
b) Radiation
c) Suitable choice of core and cladding components
d) Melting

48. Optical fibers suffer _________ losses at bends or curves on their paths. [Radition]

49. Rayleigh scattering and Mie scattering are the types of [a]
a) Linear scattering losses
b) Non-linear scattering losses
c) Fiber bends losses
d) Splicing losses

50. Dominant intrinsic loss mechanism in low absorption window between ultraviolet and infrared
absorption tails is [b]
a) Mie scattering
b) Rayleigh scattering
c) Stimulated Raman scattering
d) Stimulated Brillouin scattering

51. Rayleigh scattering results from _____of a random nature occurring on a small level compared with
the wavelength of light. [inhomogeneity]

52. The Rayleigh scattering is inversely proportional to the _____________. [wavelength]

53. The scattering resulting from fiber imperfections like core-cladding RI differences, diameter
fluctuations, strains, and bubbles is [b]
a) Rayleigh scattering
b) Mie scattering
c) Stimulated Brillouin scattering
d) Stimulated Raman scattering

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54. Mie scattering has in-homogeneities mainly in [a]
a) Forward direction
b) Backward direction
c) All direction
d) Core-cladding interface

55. The in-homogeneities in Mie scattering can be reduced by _______ of a fiber. [controlled extrusion
and coating]

56. What is dispersion in optical fiber communication? [b]

a) Compression of light pulses
b) Broadening of transmitted light pulses along the channel
c) Overlapping of light pulses on compression
d) Absorption of light pulses

57. What does ISI stands for in optical fiber communication? [c]
a) Invisible size interference
b) Infrared size interference
c) Inter-symbol interference
d) Inter-shape interference

58. For no overlapping of light pulses down on an optical fiber link, the digital bit rate BT must be: [a]
a) Less than the reciprocal of broadened pulse duration
b) More than the reciprocal of broadened pulse duration
c) Same as that of than the reciprocal of broadened pulse duration
d) Negligible

59. 3dB optical bandwidth is always ___________ the 3dB electrical bandwidth. [b]
a) Smaller than
b) Larger than
c) Negligible than
d) Equal to

60. What is pulse dispersion per unit length if for a graded index fiber, 0.1μs pulse broadening is seen
over a distance of 13 km? [b]
a) 6.12ns/km
b) 7.69ns/km
c) 10.29ns/km
d) 8.23ns/km

61. In waveguide dispersion, refractive index is independent of [d]

a) Bit rate
b) Index difference
c) Velocity of medium
d) Wavelength

62. Intermodal dispersion occurring in a large amount in multimode step index fiber results in [c]
a) Propagation of the fiber
b) Propagating through the fiber
c) Pulse broadening at output
d) Attenuation of waves

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63. After Total Internal Reflection the Meridional ray [d]
a) Makes an angle equal to acceptance angle with the axial ray
b) Makes an angle equal to critical angle with the axial ray
c) Travels parallel equal to critical angle with the axial ray
d) Makes an angle equal to critical angle with the axial ray

64. Consider a single mode fiber having core refractive index n1= 1.5.
The fiber length is 12m. Find the time taken by the axial ray to travel along the fiber [b]
a) 1.00μsec
b) 0.06μsec
c) 0.90μsec
d) 0.30μsec

65. A 4 km optical link consists of multimode step index fiber with core refractive index of 1.3 and a
relative refractive index difference of 1%. Find the delay difference between the slowest and fastest
modes at the fiber output. [a]
a) 0.173 μsec
b) 0.152 μsec
c) 0.96 μsec
d) 0.121 μsec

66. __________dispersion in multimode fiber is minimized with the use of multimode graded index
fibers. [Inter-modal]

67. Practical pulse broadening value for graded index fiber lies in the range of [b]
a) 0.9 to 1.2 ns/km
b) 0.2 to 1 ns/km
c) 0.23 to 5 ns/km
d) 0.45 to 8 ns/km

68. Most of the power in an optical fiber is transmitted in fiber __________ [Core]

69. An optical fiber behaves as a birefringence medium due to differences in [a]

a) Effective R-I and core geometry
b) Core-cladding symmetry
c) Transmission/propagation time of waves
d) Refractive indices of glass and silica

70. Polarization modal noise can _________ the performance of communication system. [a]
a) Degrade
b) Improve
c) Reduce
d) Attenuate

71. How many categories of nonlinear effects are seen in optical fibers? [b]
a) One
b) Two
c) Three
d) Four

72. Linear scattering effects are _______ in nature. [a]

a) Elastic

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b) Non-Elastic
c) Mechanical
d) Electrical

73. _________ semiconductor laser sources generally have broader bandwidths. [b]
a) Injection
b) Pulsed
c) Solid-state
d) Silicon hybrid

74. If a light travels in a certain medium and it gets reflected off an optically denser medium with high
refractive index, then it is regarded as __ [a]
a. External Reflection
b. Internal Reflection
c. Both a and b
d. None of the above
75. In an optical fiber, the concept of Numerical aperture is applicable in describing the ability of
__________ [a]
a. Light Collection
b. Light Scattering
c. Light Dispersion
d. Light Polarization
76. During the design of FOC system, which among the following reasons is/are responsible for an
extrinsic absorption? [b]
a. Atomic defects in the composition of glass
b. Impurity atoms in glass material
c. Basic constituent atoms of fiber material
d. All of the above
77. Which among the following represent/s the measure/s to minimize the inhomogenities for Mie
scattering reduction? [d]
a. Extrusion Control
b. Increase in relative R.I. difference
c. Removal of imperfections due to glass manufacturing process
d. All of the above
78. In the structure of fiber, the light is guided through the core due to total internal ______ [a]
a. reflection
b. refraction
c. diffraction
d. dispersion
79. In the structure of a fiber, which component provides additional strength and prevents the fiber from
any damage? [c]
a. Core
b. Cladding
c. Buffer Coating
d. None of the above

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80. Which rays exhibit the variation in the light acceptability ability of the fiber?
a. Meridional [b]
b. Skew
c. Leaky
d. All of the above
81. If a fiber operates at 1400nm with the diameter of about 10 μm, n1 = 1.30, Δ = 0.80% , V = 3.5, then
how many modes will it have? [a]
a. 6.125
b. 9.655
c. 12.95
d. 16.55
82. Which kind of dispersion phenomenon gives rise to pulse spreading in single mode fibers? [a]
a. Intramodal
b. Intermodal
c. Material
d. Group Velocity
83. With respect to single mode and graded index fibers, which parameter specifies the propagation of
polarization modes with different phase velocities & the difference between their effective refractive
indices? [b]
a. Mode field diameter
b. Birefringence
c. Fiber beat length
d. Spot Size
84. In Rayleigh scattering of light in glass, at which type of temperature does the glass attain the state
of thermal equilibrium and exhibits its relativity to annealing temperature? [b]
a. Junction
b. Fictive
c. Breakdown
d. Decomposition
85. the macroscopic bending losses show an exponential increase due to ________ in radius of
curvature. [b]
a. Increase b) decrease c) stability d) none of the above
86. Which component of fiber-optic connector has a provision of entry for the fiber along with the
fixation to connector housing? [b]
a. Ferrule b. Cable c. Connector Housing d. Coupling Device
87. Which among the following is regarded as a keyed bayonet connector along with its feasibility of
easiest insertion and removal from the fiber optic cable? [d]
a. FC connectors b. LC connectors c. MT-RJ Connectors d. ST Connectors
88. How many mating cycles are being rated by typically matched SC Connectors? [d]
a. 500 b. 600 c. 800 d. 1000
89. In stimulated emission, which among the following parameters of generated photon is/are similar to
the photon of incident wave?

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 a. Phase b. Frequency c. Polarization & direction of travel d. All of the above
90. In Lambertian output pattern of LED, the source is ______ bright from all directions.
a. Less b. Equally c. More d. Unpredictably
91. In the structure of fiber optic cable, the refractive index of core is always _______ the refractive
index of cladding. [Less than]
92. The order of mode is equal to the number of field _________ across the guide. [zeros]
93. If a mirror is used to reflect light, the reflected light angle is ____ as the incident angle
a. Smaller b. Larger c. The same d. Independent
94. ________ dispersion is caused by the difference in the propagation times of light rays that take
different paths down a fiber.
a. Material dispersion b. Wavelength dispersion
c. Modal dispersion d. Delay dispersion
95. What is the average insertion loss of fusion splice in fiber optics?
a. 0.09 dB
b. 0.9 dB
c. 0.19 dB
d. 0.009 dB
96. What is the insertion loss of connector-type splices for a single mode fiber optics?
a. 0.51 dB
b. 0.31 dB
c. 0.49 dB
d. 0.38 dB
97. What type of fiber has the highest modal dispersion?
a. Step-index multimode
b. Graded index multimode
c. Step-index single mode
d. Graded index mode
98. A permanent joint formed between two different optical fibers in the field is known as a [a]
a) Fiber splice
b) Fiber connector
c) Fiber attenuator
d) Fiber dispersion
99. How many types of fiber splices are available? [b]
a) One
b) Two
c) Three
d) Four

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100. What is the use of an index-matching material in the connector between the two jointed fibers? [b]
a) To decrease the light transmission through the connection
b) To increase the light transmission through the connection
c) To induce losses in the fiber
d) To make a fiber dispersive
101. How many categories of fiber connectors exist? [c]
a) One
b) Three
c) Two
d) Four
102. The basic ferrule connector is also called as_______________ [d]
a) Groove connector
b) Beam connector
c) Multimode connector
d) concentric sleeve connector
103. The amount of radiance in planer type of LED structures is [a]
a) Low
b) High
c) Zero
d) Negligible
104. In optical fiber communication, ______________ major types of LED structures are used
[c]
a) 2
b) 4
c) 6
d) 3
105. As compared to planar LED structure, Dome LEDs have ______________ External power
efficiency, ____________ effective emission area and _____________ radiance. [b]
a) Greater, lesser, reduced
b) Higher, greater, reduced
c) Higher, lesser, increased
d) Greater, greater, increased
106. In surface emitter LEDs, more advantage can be obtained by using [c]
a) BH structures
b) QC structures
c) DH structures
d) Gain-guided structure
107. Mesa structured SLEDs are used [c]
a) To reduce radiance
b) To increase radiance
c) To reduce current spreading
d) To increase current spreading
108. The InGaAsP is emitting LEDs are realized in terms of restricted [a]
a) Length strip geometry
b) Radiance

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c) Current spreading
d) Coupled optical power
109. The active layer of E-LED is heavily doped with [a]
a) Zn
b) Eu
c) Cu
d) Sn
110. Intrinsically _________________ are a very linear device. [d]
a) Injection lasers
b) DH lasers
c) Gain-guided
d) LEDs
111. The internal quantum efficiency of LEDs decreasing _______ with ______ temperature [b]
a) Exponentially, decreasing
b) Exponentially, increasing
c) Linearly, increasing
d) Linearly, decreasing
112. The absence of _______________ in LEDs limits the internal quantum efficiency. [c]
a) Proper semiconductor
b) Adequate power supply
c) Optical amplification through stimulated emission
d) Optical amplification through spontaneous emission
113. Attenuation coefficient is commonly expressed in units of [c]
a. dB/m b. dBm c. dB/km d. dB
114. As light travels along a fiber, its power _________ exponentially with distance [decrease]
115.The basic mechanisms in a fibre are [d]
a. Absorption b. Scattering c. Radiation loss d. All

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