Optical communications

Higher education teachers: Vidmar Matjaž

Subject description

Prerequisits:

General knowledge of the following:

• Fundamentals of electrical engineering 1,2
• Mathematics 1,2,3,4
• Electrodynamics

Content (Syllabus outline):

Properties and limitations of metal transmission lines: twisted pair, coaxial cable and metal wave-guide, bandwidth and attenuation of coaxial cable. Reflection and refraction of electromagnetic waves on the boundary of two different dielectrics, implementation of a planar wave-guide, group delay, dispersion equation, and number of modes in a planar dielectric wave-guide. Multi-mode and single-mode optical fibers, raw materials and methods of fabrication, multi-mode, chromatic and polarization-mode dispersion, non-linear effects in optical fibers. Optical-network components: splitters, combiners, filters, diffraction gratings, wavelength multiplexers, light-wave isolators and circulators. Optical-source properties, longitudinal and transversal coherence, source modulation, source types: filament bulbs, gas-discharge bulbs, light-emitting diodes, gas and solid-state lasers and their properties. Light-wave modulators, electro-optical phase modulator, electro-optical amplitude modulator, electro-absorption modulator. Lightwave receivers: thermal, photo-resistors and photo-diodes, quantum efficiency, photo-resistor and photo-voltaic regimes, quantum and thermal noise of an optical receiver, implementations of different receivers, clock recovery, clock jitter. Optical amplifiers, fiber and solid-state amplifiers, Brillouin and Raman effects.

Objectives and competences:

Learning the fundamentals of guided-wave (wired) communications. Reasons to use optical fibers. Learning optical fibers and other components of optical networks: optical transmitters, optical modulators, optical receivers and optical amplifiers.

Intended learning outcomes:

Knowledge of guided-wave (wired) communications, principles and implementation of optical fibers and related terminal equipment: optical transmitters, modulators, receivers and amplifiers.

Learning and teaching methods:

Lectures to explain the theoretical background and laboratory experiments to practically confirm the theory in the spirit of team work.

Study materials

Readings:

1. J. Budin, Optične komunikacije, FE, Ljubljana, 1993.
2. B. Batagelj, M. Vidmar, Optične komunikacije, Laboratorijske vaje, FE, Ljubljana, 2003.
3. J. Budin, Sisitemi optičnih komunikacij, FE, Ljubljana, 1995.
4. http://antena.fe.uni-lj.si/literatura/