1 Optical Source Requirements to an optical source 1. The light output should be highly directional 2. Source should be linear 3. Emit light at wavelengths where the fiber has low losses and low dispersion and where the detectors are efficient. 4. Simple signal modulation over a wide bandwidth 5. Must couple sufficient optical power 6. Narrow spectral bandwidth in order to minimize dispersion in the fiber. 7. Stable optical output (environment variation) 8. Cheap and highly reliable 2 Basic Concept of Light Emission The energy states of atom electrons are discrete When an atom gains sufficient energy it moves to upper state When an atom drops from an upper energy state to lower energy state it releases/emits energy The frequency/wavelength of the emitted energy depends on the energy difference of the states Energy emits:
If E is such that the emitted wavelength is in the range of light
then light is emitted.
3 Types of Emission Spontaneous emission: atom returns to the lower energy state in an entirely random manner Stimulated emission: when a photon having an energy equal to the energy difference between the two states (E2 − E1) interacts with the atom in the upper energy state causing it to return to the lower state with the creation of a second photon.
4 Electron Distribution in Semiconductor Valence and conduction bands separated by a forbidden energy gap or bandgap Eg Thermal excitation raises some electrons from the valence band into the conduction band, leaving empty hole states in the valence band For a semiconductor in thermal equilibrium the energy-level occupation is described by the Fermi–Dirac distribution function p-n Materials
6 p-n Junction
Normally no electrons or holes flow between the two types of materials
7 Operating Principle of LED When external positive voltage is applied, depletion region and potential barrier reduce Electrons move from n to p and holes move from p to n, i.e., minority carrier increases in both p and n materials The increased minority carriers leads to recombination of carrier across the band gap
8 Operating Principle of LED Due to electron-hole recombination, the energy released approx equal to band gap energy The released energy may be radiative or non radiative For non-radiative recombination, energy is dissipated as heat and vibration For radioactive radiation, wavelength is determine as
Spontaneous emission occurs in LED at forward bias
9 LED Emmission
10 Types of Recombination Two types: direct band gap and indirect band gap The crystal momentum p is related to the wave vector k for an electron in a crystal by p = 2πhk, where h is Planck’s constant
11 Direct and Indirect Band Gap Material
12 Population Inversion
Under the conditions of thermal equilibrium the lower energy level E1
of the two-level atomic system contains more atoms than the upper energy level E2 To achieve optical amplification it is necessary to create a non equilibrium distribution of atoms such that the population of the upper energy level is greater than that of the lower energy level (i.e. N2 > N1). This condition, which is known as population inversion, 13 How to Create Population Inversion? Excite atoms into the upper energy level E2 Achieved using an external energy source and is referred to as ‘pumping’ A common method used for pumping involves the application of intense radiation (e.g. from an optical flash tube or high-frequency radio field).
14 Stimulated Emission from Population Inversion Three –level or four-level system Rapid decay are non radiative Stimulated radiative emission for lasing
15 3-level vs 4-level System In 3-level system, the pumping power requirement is very high Why??? The terminal state of the laser transition is ground state More than the half of atoms must be pumped to achieve population inversion
The 4-level system overcome this problem and the pumping
power requirement is not high
16 Semiconductor Laser Heavily dopped p-n junction works as LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
17 LASER
18 LASER
19 LASER Materials p-n form with suitable characteristics for carrier injection Efficient electroluminescence -High probability of radiative transmision Useful emission wavelength -Suitable for detector -Less attenuation and dispersion in fiber
20 Semiconductor LASER Structure Gain guided laser
Current flow through Current flow through
Non-resistive region diffused p-type region Problems: Nonlinear output High threshold current
21 Index Guided LASER The problem gain guided laser are reduced A ridge waveguide is produced above active region
22 Quantum Well Laser
23 Distributed Feedback Laser Distributed feedback (DFB) laser and distributed bragg reflector (DBR) laser are single frequency lasers Optical grating are used to change the refractive index periodically In DFB, grating is used over entire active region In DBR, the grating is etched near cavity ends
24 Single frequency operation
25 Effect of Temperature on LASER Threshold current density
26 Non semiconductor Laser Both crystalline and glass wave guiding structures doped with rare earth ions (e.g. neodymium) show potential for use as optical communication sources The Nd :YAG laser is yttrium–aluminum–garnet (Y3Al5O12) doped with the rare earth metal ion neodymium (Nd3+) to form the Nd :YAG structure
27 Nd:YAG laser Advantages: Single-mode operation near 1.064 and 1.32 μm, making it a suitable source for single-mode systems A narrow linewidth (<0.01 nm) which is useful for reducing dispersion on optical links 4 level system, less pumping power required A potentially long lifetime Disadvantage: The device must be optically pumped. Costly The device cannot take advantage of the well-developed technology associated with semiconductors and integrated 28 circuits. LED vs LASER Advantage of LED over LASER Simple fabrication Low cost High reliability Less temperature dependence (does not depend on threshold current) Simple drive circuit Linearity Disadvantage of LED over LASER Lower power coupled to fiber Lower modulation bandwidth More harmonic distortion
29 LED and LASER Characteristics
30 Optical Amplifier Optical signal attenuates with distance Signal need to be amplified for long distance communication Semiconductor devices can convert an optical signal into an electrical signal, amplify it and reconvert the signal back to an optical signal. However, this procedure has several disadvantages: Costly Noise is introduced after each conversion in analog signals (which cannot be reconstructed) Restriction on bandwidth, wavelengths and type of optical signals being used, due to the electronics Optical amplifier (OA) amplify optical signal in optical domain
31 Optical Amplification Amplification gain: Up to a factor of 10,000 (+40 dB) It generates its own noise source known as Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) noise.
Wavelength Wavelength 33 Optical Amplification - Noise Figure Required figure of merit to compare amplifier noise performance Defined when the input signal is coherent
Input signal to noise ratio ( SNRi )
Noise Figure (NF) Output signal to noise ratio ( SNRo )
NF is a positive number, nearly always > 2 (I.e. 3 dB)
Good performance: when NF ~ 3 dB NF is one of a number of factors that determine the overall BER of a network. 34 Types Two types: Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) SLA: semiconductor laser amplifier Fiber Amplifiers EDFA: Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier FRA: Fibre Raman Amplifier TDFA: Thulium Doped Fibre Amplifier
35 Semiconductor Optical Amplifier
Active region with width w, height d and length L
The active region is populated inverted Photons are injected at one end of the SOA By stimulated emission, the incident signal will be amplified! By stimulated emission, one photon gives rise to another photon: the total is two photons. Each of these two photons can give rise to another photon: the total is then four photons. And it goes on and on... 36 Features SOA Poor noise performance: they add a lot of noise to the signal! Matching with the fibre is also a problem! Temperature sensitive However, they are small and cheap!
37 Fiber Amplifiers Fiber amplifiers are less temperature sensitive Costy Less noise
Population inversion is with rare earth material, eg. Nd, Er
Stimulated emission occurs when light is pumped and the input light is amplified
38 Fiber Amplifier Can be used as power amplifier at source, OA in repeater and preamplifier at receiver
39 Erbium doped fiber amplifer (EDFA) Erbium doped fiber amplifer (EDFA) is mostly used in optical communication
A pump optical signal is added to an input signal by a WDM coupler
Within a length of doped fibre part, the pump energy is transferred to excite doped fiber to higher energy state and amplify input signal by stimulated emission For operation circa 1550 nm the fibre dopant is Erbium Input Isolator Isolator Output WDM Erbium Doped Fibre
Pump Source = Fusion Splice
41 Power level EDFA
Power level Power interchange between pump and 980 nm 1550 nm data signals 980 nm 1550 nm signal data signal signal data signal
St. Joseph'S College of Engineering, Chennai - 119. Department of Science Ph8252 - Physics For Information Science Worksheets Unit - Iv Optical Properties of Materials
St. Joseph'S College of Engineering, Chennai - 119. Department of Science Ph8252 - Physics For Information Science Worksheets Unit - Iv Optical Properties of Materials
