ECE 565
Optical Communication Components and Sub-Systems
Spring 2005
Course objective: To develop a practical understanding of the components and techniques
used in current optical communication systems and to have an analytical understanding of
their capabilities and limitations.
Course Description: Optical waveguides, Optical Fiber attenuation and dispersion, Power
Launching and Coupling of light, Mechanical and fiber lifetime issues, Photoreceivers,
Digital On-Off Keying, modulation methods, SNR and BER, QAM and M-QAM,
modulation methods, SNR, and BER, Intersymbol Interference (impact on SNR), Clock
and Data recovery issues, Point-to-Point Digital Links, Optical Amplifiers Theory and
Design (SOA, EDFA, and SRA), Simple WDM system concepts, WDM components.
Prerequisites: Approval of instructor.
Instructors:
Dr. Majeed M. Hayat
hayat@ece.unm.edu; Tel: 277-0297, EECE 323B
http://www.eece.unm.edu/faculty/hayat/main.htm
Dr. Ravi Jain
jain@chtm.unm.edu; Tel: 272-7842, CHTM 115B
Dr. Luke Lester
luke@chtm.unm.edu; Tel: 272-7095, CHTM 118B
A note from the instructors on the team-teaching philosophy for this course: The
purpose behind team teaching this course is to better serve the students’ technical needs
and learning. Optical communication is a very broad area that is supported by a range of
disciplines including electromagnetics, solid-state physics and devices, optics, and
communication theory. In the ECE department at UNM, we are fortunate to have various
faculty who are actively engaged in research in optical communications with emphases in
its distinct sub-areas. With this in mind, we distributed the topics to be covered in this
course amongst us. (Topics, dates and instructors are listed under the Topics header
below.) We will make every effort to insure that our team effort is fully coordinated and
well organized. Students are encouraged to provide us with feedback on our multipleinstructor approach and share their thoughts on any ideas that may improve our effort in
this effort and future efforts.
Classroom & time: CHTM 103; M W 1230-1345
Text: G.P. Agrawal, Fiber Optic Communication Systems, 3rd Ed., NY: Wiley, 2002.
Office hours:
Hayat: T, Th: 2-3; Jain: W: 2-3, and additionally by appointment; Lester: T, Th: 9-10.
Note: Students are welcome to see any one of the three instructors for assistance regarding
homework and other course-related questions. However, it is recommended that they first
seek assistance from the instructor who presented the lectures on the specific topics.
Tentative Topics:
1. Introduction to the course and basic concepts in communication (Ch. 1,
Jain/Hayat/Lester): Jan. 19, 24
2. Optical fiber review (Ch. 2, Hayat and Jain): Jan. 26 and 31, Feb. 2 and 7
a. Types of fibers (Jain)
b. Modes and polarization (Jain)
c. Coupling of light (Jain)
d. Dispersion (Hayat)
e. Losses (Jain)
f. Propagation computations (Hayat)
g. Bit rate limitations (Hayat)
h. Nonlinear effects (Jain)
i. Manufacturing issues (Jain)
3. Review of sources (Ch. 3, Lester and Hayat): February 9, 14, and 16
a. Types of transmitters: LEDs, Semiconductor lasers. (Lester)
b. Bandwidth. (Lester)
c. Laser noise (RIN). (Hayat)
d. Examples of transmitter design. (Hayat)
4. Photo-receivers (Ch. 4, Hayat): Feb. 21, 23, and 28, Mar. 2 and 7
a. Types of photodetectors: p-n, p-i-n photodiodes, APDs, MSMs.
b. Detector noise characterization.
c. Signal-to-noise ratio and receiver sensitivity.
d. Bit error-rate (BER) calculations for ON-OFF keying modulation.
e. Receiver design and performance
f. Other performance degradation issues (e.g., jitter, intensity noise, extinction
ratio).
5. System design and performance (Ch. 5, Hayat): Mar. 21, 23, 28, and 30
a. Power budget: interplay between loss, dispersion, noise, power, and
specified performance.
b. BER revisited, power penalty: intersymbol interference (ISI).
c. QAM and M-QAM modulation (notes)
d. System design.
6. Multi-channel systems (Ch.8, Lester and Hayat): Apr. 4, 6, and 11
a. Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM): systems and components. (Jain)
b. Time-division multiplexing (TDM). (Jain)
c. Code-division multiplexing: spread-spectrum techniques; optical orthogonal
codes, optical code-division multiple access (OCDMA). (Hayat)
d. Performance issues: cross talk, bandwidth efficiency, security. (Hayat)
7. Optical amplifiers (Ch. 6, Lester): April 13, 18, 20, and 25
a. Semiconductor amplifiers.
b. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers.
c. Raman amplifiers.
d. Applications.
8. Project presentations: April 27 and May 2
9. Review: May 4
Course requirements:
Homework (approx. 6 sets): problems, computer assignments and reading
Midterm Exam: March 9
Final Examination: Wed. May 11, 12:30-2:30
Project: Due May 11, 2005, topic to be announced *
20 %
25 %
30 %
25 %
Project format: The projects will be conducted in small groups (2-4, depending on class
size). Each student is expected to submit a formal well-documented report for each project
and each group is expected to give in-class oral presentations. Detailed instructions and
evaluation criteria will accompany each project assignment sheet. Specifics of the project
will be announced just after the midterm.
Computing skills:
Students are expected to be familiar with and have access to one of available general
computing tools such as Matlab, MathCad, Mathematica, or equivalent. These will be used
in the homework assignments as well as the project. (Matlab is available in the computer
laboratories in the ECE building.)
Tentative grading policy:
A: 90-100; B: 80-89; C: 60-79; F: 59 or below.
Further Reading and References
Gerd Keiser , Optical Fiber Communications. McGraw Hill, 2003
Palais, Fiber Optic Communications, 5th Edn. 2005, Prentice Hall
Pollock, Fundamentals of Optoelectronics, 1995
Irwin Connelly, Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers, 2002, Kluwer.
Derickson, Fiber Optic Test and Measurement, 1998, Prentice Hall
P. Bhattacharya, Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices, Second Ed., Prentice-Hall, 1997.
B. E. A. Saleh & M. C. Teich Fundamentals of Photonics, B. E. A. Saleh & M. C. Teich, Wiley,
1991.
B. Sklar, Digital Communications, Fundamentals and Applications. Prentice Hall.