1. Design of Lightwave Communication Systems and Networks

2. Objectives
To introduce the basic physics of photonic devices and apply it for the design of optical transmission systems and networks.
To simulate the various photonic components and also to do system level simulations.
To study different noise processes in photonic circuits and understand their impact on Q-factor or BER.
To develop engineering rules for the design of fiber-optic transmission systems.

3. Expectations My expectation: Speak up.
Course as interactive as possible.
Your expectations ?

4. Course Outline Review of electromagnetic theory - 1 lecture.
Fiber modes and pulse propagation in fibers – 3 lectures.
Sec. 1 LP modes
Sec. 2 Fiber dispersion and fiber propagation
Generation, amplification and detection of light - 4 lectures
Sec. 3 Semiconductor lasers and LED
Sec. 4 Amplifiers (SOA and EDFA )
Sec. 5 Photo-detectors

5. Course Outline
Point-to-point, single wavelength transmission system (2 lectures)
Sec. 6 Functional Block (Transmitter and Receiver) Design
Sec. 7 Penalties due to fiber dispersion and amplifier noise
Sec. 8 System design with Tx, fiber, concatenated amplifiers and Rx
Eye Diagrams and Q-factor estimation
Wavelength division multiplexed system (1 lecture)
Sec. 9 Add/drop multiplexers
Sec. 10 cross-talk in WDM system
Linear cross-talk
Nonlinear cross-talk due to four wave mixing
Optical Networks (1 lecture)
Sec SONET/SDH, circuit, packet and cell networks

6. Assessment Final exam – 50% Project - 50%
Each student will be assigned a project.
The project involves
A good research survey.
Simulation of a photonic device or a circuit.
Project report.

7. History
Invention of Laser and Maser in 1960s
In 1950s, Townes and Schawlow in the US and Basov and Prochorov in the USSR proposed to make use of stimulated emission for the construction of coherent optical sources.
In Maiman demonstrated the first laser.
In 1970, Hayashi et al demonstrated GaAs semiconductor laser operating at room temperature.
Low Loss Fibers in 1970s
Fibers available in 1960s had losses in excess of 1000dB/km.
In 1970, Kapran, Keck and Maurer invented a low loss fiber with the loss of 20 dB/km.
In 1979, Miya et al reported a loss of 0.2 dB/km near 1550 nm.
Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers in 1980s.
In 1980s, Poole et al in the UK and Desurvire in the US demonstrated light amplification by EDFA. Now it is used in all commercial long haul fiber optic networks.

8. Point-to-Point Optical Transmission System
Lasers Modulators Fiber Amp DEMUX Rx
MUX

10. Contact Info
Instructor: Dr. S. Kumar
Office hours: Wednesday 2-4 PM
Office: CRL #219
Web page of the course: