Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs):

These LEDs require less complex drive circuitry than laser diodes as no thermal or optical stabilization circuits are needed and
they can be fabricated less expensively with higher yields.
 Led is useful in fiber transmission application.

 An led must have a high radiance output, a fast

emission response time, and a high quantum efficiency.

 Radiance or brightness is measured as output power

per unit solid angle.

 High radiance are necessary to couple sufficiently high

optical power levels into a fiber.

 Emission response time is the time delay between the

input current and LED's emission.

 This time delay is factor limiting the bandwidth with

which the source can be modulated directly by varying

the injected current.
 Quantum efficiency (QE) in LEDs is the ratio of the number of photons emitted to the number of electrons passing through the

device, indicating how effectively electrical energy is converted into light.

 High radiance and quantum efficiency is achieved by limiting or restricting the charge carriers and stimulate optical emission to

the active region of pn junction where radiative recombination occurs.

 Carrier restriction is used to achieve a high level of radiative recombination in the active region of device.

 This time delay is factor limiting the bandwidth with which the source can be modulated directly by varying the injected

current.
 Optical confinement is important for preventing absorption of emitted radiation by the material surrounding the P-N junction.

 The two basics LED configuration used in fiber optics are:

➢ Surface Emitter LED: In the surface emitter, the plane of

the active light-emitting region is oriented perpendicularly to
the axis of the fiber, In this configuration, a well is etched
through the substrate of the device, into which a fiber is
then cemented in order to accept the emitted light.
➢ Edge Emitter LED: The edge emitter consists of an active
junction region, which is the source of the incoherent light,
and two guiding layers. The guiding layers both have a
refractive index lower than that of the active region but
higher than the index of the surrounding material. This
structure forms a waveguide channel that directs the optical
radiation toward the fiber core.

Light Source Materials:

• A direct bandgap is a property of certain semiconductors where the lowest energy level in the conduction band and the highest
energy level in the valence band occur at the same momentum (wave vector). This alignment allows electrons to transition
(recombine) directly from the conduction band to the valence band,
releasing energy in the form of light (photons) without requiring a change
in momentum.
• Only in direct-bandgap material is the radiative recombination
sufficiently high to produce an adequate level of optical emission

Direct Bandgap (Solid Line):

• For small values of x (up to about 0.45), the material exhibits a direct
bandgap. In this region, electrons can recombine directly with holes,
making the material useful for optoelectronic devices like LEDs and lasers.
• The bandgap energy increases almost linearly with increasing Al
content (x). This causes the output wavelength to shift toward shorter
values (moving from about 0.8 µm to 0.6 µm).
Indirect Bandgap (Dashed Line):
• As x increases beyond a certain value (around 0.4 to 0.45), the material transitions from a direct bandgap to an indirect
bandgap.
• Indirect bandgap materials are less efficient for optoelectronic applications because the electron-hole recombination process
requires phonons, reducing radiative efficiency.

Various ternary and quaternary combinations of binary compounds of these elements are also direct gap materials and are
suitable candidates for optical sources.
1. ternary alloy Ga1–xAlxAs (Gallium Aluminum Arsenide):
• For operation in the 800-to-900-nm spectrum, the primary material used is the
ternary alloy Ga1–xAlxAs (Gallium Aluminum Arsenide).
• In this alloy the ratio x represents the proportion of Aluminum Arsenide (AlAs)
relative to Gallium Arsenide (GaAs).
• This ratio determines the bandgap of the alloy, which directly affects the
wavelength of the emitted light.
• Spectral Width (Full Width at Half Maximum - FWHM):
o The full-width half-maximum (FWHM) is a measure of the spectral
width of a light-emitting device's output. It represents the width of the
emitted spectrum at half of its maximum power level.
o This width indicates how concentrated or broad the LED’s output is
around the peak wavelength. A narrower spectral width signifies that
the LED emits light primarily within a smaller range of wavelengths.
o The width of the spectral pattern at its half-power point is known as
the full width half maximum (FWHM) spectral width.
2. Quaternary alloy In1–xGaxAsyP1–y:
• At longer wavelengths the quaternary alloy In1–xGaxAsyP1–y is one of the primary material candidates.
• By varying the mole fractions x and y in the active area, LEDs with peak output powers at any wavelength between
1.0 and 1.7 mm can be constructed.
Laser diodes:
• A laser diode is a semiconductor device that converts electricity into a concentrated beam of light. Laser action is the result
of three key processes: photon absorption, spontaneous emission, and stimulated emission.
• Where, E1 is the ground-state energy and E2 is the excited-state energy. According to Planck’s law, a transition between
These two states involves the absorption or emission of a photon of energy : hv12 = E2 – E1.
• Normally, the system is in the ground state. When a photon of energy hv12 impinges on the system, an electron in state E1
can absorb the photon energy and be excited to state E2, Since this is an unstable state, the electron will shortly return to the
ground state, thereby emitting a photon of energy hv12. This occurs without any external stimulation and is called
spontaneous emission.
• These emissions are isotropic and of random phase, and thus appear as a narrowband gaussian output. The electron can also
be induced to make a downward transition from the excited level to the ground state level by an external stimulation.
• This emitted photon is in phase with the incident photon, and the resultant emission is known as stimulated emission
• In thermal equilibrium the density of excited electrons is very small. Most photons incident on the system will be absorbed, so
that stimulated emission is essentially negligible.
• Stimulated emission will exceed absorption only if the population of the excited states is greater than that of the ground state.
• This condition is known as population inversion. Since this is not an equilibrium condition, population inversion is achieved by
various “pumping” techniques.

Laser Diode Modes and Threshold Conditions:

3 Modes Laser Diodes:
Longitudinal mode -length of cavity- determines principal
structure of frequency spectrum.
Lateral modes-plane of pn junction- depends on side wall
preparation and width-determines shape of lateral profile.
Transverse mode associated with electromagnetic field
and beam profile-direction is perpendicular to the plane-
determines radiation pattern & threshold current density

THRESHOLD CONDITIONS
• LASING: condition at which light amplification becomes
possible in a laser. Requirement: population inversion Stimulated emission rate is proportional to radiation intensity. Radiation
intensity varies exponentially with distance as it traverses along the cavity.

Photodetectors:
These are Opto-electric devices i.e. to convert the optical signal back into electrical impulses. The light detectors or Photo
detectors made up of semiconductor material. When the light strikes the light detector a current is produced in the external
circuit proportional to the intensity of the incident light. Optical signal generally is weakened and distorted when it emerges from
the end of the fiber, the photo detector must meet following strict performance requirements:
➢ A high sensitivity to the emission wavelength range of the received light signal
➢ A minimum addition of noise to the signal
➢ A fast response speed to handle the desired data rate
➢ Be insensitive to temperature variations
➢ Be compatible with the physical dimensions of the fiber
➢ Have a Reasonable cost compared to other system components
➢ Have a long operating lifetime

The Pin Photodetector:

• The device structure consists of p and n semiconductor regions
separated by a very lightly n-doped intrinsic region.
• In normal operation a reverse-bias voltage is applied across the device
so that no free electrons or holes exist in the intrinsic region.
• Incident photon having energy greater than or equal to the band gap energy of the semiconductor material, give up its energy
and excite an electron from the valence band to the conduction band.
This absorption process generates mobile electron–hole pairs. These electrons and holes are known as photocarriers, since they
are photon-generated charge carriers that are available to produce a current fl ow when a bias voltage is applied across the
device.
• the high electric field present in the depletion region causes photogenerated carriers to separate and be collected across the
reverse – biased junction. This gives rise to a current flow in an external circuit, known as photocurrent.

Avalanche Photodiodes:
➢ All detectors require a certain minimum current to operate reliably. The current requirement translates into a minimum
power requirement through Pin=IpRPin=IpR.
➢ Detectors with a large responsivity R are preferred since they
require less optical power.
➢ The responsivity of p–i–n photodiodes is limited while Avalanche
photodiode (APDs) can have much larger values of R

Working of APD
➢ APD is similar to PIN diode the exception is the addition of high
intensity electric field region.
➢ In this region primary electron hole pairs are generated by the
incident photons which are able to absorb enough kinetic energy from strong electric field to collide with the atoms present in
this region, thus generating more electron hole pairs.
➢ The physical phenomenon behind the internal current gain is known as the impact ionization.
➢ This impact ionization leads to avalanche breakdown in ordinary reverse bias. It requires very high reverse bias voltage in
order that the new carriers created by impact ionization can themselves produce additional carriers by same mechanism.
➢ This process of generating more than one electron hole pair from incident photon through ionization process is referred to as
the avalanche effect.
➢ Thus the avalanche multiplication results in amplification of photodiode current.
➢ Multiplication factor: Multiplication factor M is a measure of internal gain provided by APD. It is defined as the ratio of total
multiplied output current to the primary un multiplied current.

Multiplication depends on physical and operational characteristics of photo detector device. Operational characteristics include
the width of avalanche region, the strength of electric field and type of semiconductor material employed.

WDM Concepts:
Operational Principles of WDM
 A characteristic of WDM is that the discrete wavelengths form an orthogonal set of carriers that can be separated, routed, and

switched without interfering with each other.

 The implementation of sophisticated WDM networks requires a variety of passive and active devices to combine, distribute,

isolate, and amplify optical power at different wavelengths.

 Passive devices require no external control for their operation, so they are somewhat limited in their application flexibility.

These components are mainly used to split and combine or tap off optical signals.
 The wavelength-dependent performance of active devices can be controlled electronically or optically, thereby providing a

large degree of network flexibility. Active WDM components include tunable optical filters, tunable sources, and optical
amplifiers.
 At the transmitting end there are several

independently modulated light sources, each

emitting signals at a unique wavelength. Here a
multiplexer is needed to combine these optical
outputs into a continuous spectrum of signals and
couple them onto a single fiber. At the receiving
end a demultiplexer is required to separate the
optical signals into appropriate detection channels
for signal processing.

Optical Isolators:
Optical isolators are devices that allow light to pass through them in only one direction. One common application of an optical
isolator is to keep such backward-traveling light from entering a laser diode and possibly causing instabilities in the optical output.
The core of the device consists of a 45° Faraday rotator that is placed between two wedge-shaped birefringent plates or walk-
off polarizers. Light traveling in the forward direction is separated into ordinary and extraordinary rays by the first birefringent
plate. The Faraday rotator then rotates the polarization plane of each ray by 45°. After exiting the Faraday rotator, the two rays
pass through the second birefringent plate. The axis of this polarizer plate is oriented in such a way that the relationship between
the two types of rays is maintained. Thus, when they exit the polarizer, they both
are refracted in an identical parallel direction. Going in the reverse direction
(right to left), the relationship of the ordinary and extraordinary rays is reversed
when exiting the Faraday rotator due to the nonreciprocity of the Faraday
rotation. Consequently, the rays diverge when they exit the left-hand
birefringent plate and are not coupled to the fiber anymore.

Optical Circulators:
Anoptical circulator is a nonreciprocal multiport passive device that directs light
sequentially from port to port in only one direction. This device is used in optical
amplifiers, add/drop multiplexers, and dispersion compensation modules. The
operation of a circulator is similar to that of an isolator except that its construction is more
complex. Typically it consists of a number of walk-off polarizers, half-wave plates, and Faraday
rotators and has three or four ports.
To see how it works, consider the three-port circulator. Here an input on port 1 is sent out on
port 2, an input on port 2 is sent out on port 3, and an input on port 3 is sent out on port 1.
Similarly, in a four-port device ideally one could have four inputs and four outputs if the
circulator is perfectly symmetrical. However, in actual applications it usually is not necessary to
have four inputs and four outputs. Furthermore, such a perfectly symmetrical circulator is
rather tedious to fabricate. Therefore in a four-port circulator it is common to have three input
ports and three output ports, making port 1 be an input-only port, 2 and 3 being input and
output ports, and port 4 be an output only port. A variety of circulators are available
commercially. These devices have low insertion loss, high isolation over a wide wavelength
range, minimal polarization-dependent loss (PDL), and low polarization-mode dispersion (PMD).

Fiber Grating Filters:

A grating is an important element in WDM systems for combining and separating individual wavelengths. This variation in the
material has the property of reflecting or transmitting light in a certain direction depending on the wavelength. Thus, gratings
can be categorized as either reflecting or transmitting gratings.

Fiber Bragg Grating:

A Bragg grating constructed within an optical fiber constitutes a high-
performance device for accessing individual wavelengths in the closely
spaced spectrum of dense WDM systems. Since this is an all-fiber
device, its main advantages are low cost, low loss (around 0.3 dB), ease
of coupling with other fibers, polarization insensitivity, low
temperature coefficient and simple packaging.

A fiber grating is a narrowband reflection filter that is fabricated

through a photoimprinting process. The technique is based on the observation that germanium-doped silica fiber exhibits high
photosensitivity to ultraviolet light. This means that one can induce a change in the refractive index of the core by exposing it to
ultraviolet radiation such as 244 nm.

The grating fabrication is accomplished by means of two ultraviolet beams transversely irradiating the fiber to produce an
interference pattern in the core. Here, the regions of high intensity (denoted by the shaded ovals) cause an increase in the local
refractive index of the photosensitive core, whereas it remains unaffected in the zero-intensity regions. A permanent reflective
Bragg grating is thus written into the core. When a multi-wavelength signal encounters the grating, those wavelengths that are
phase-matched to the Bragg reflection condition are reflected and all others are transmitted.

Dielectric Thin-Film Filters:

A dielectric thin-film filter (TFF) is used as an optical bandpass filter. This means that it allows a particular very narrow
wavelength band to pass straight through it and reflects all others. The basis of these devices is a classical Fabry-Perot filter
structure, which is a cavity formed by two parallel highly reflective mirror surfaces.

To see how it works, consider a light signal that is incident on the left
surface of the etalon. After the light passes through the cavity and hits the
inside surface on the right, some of the light leaves the cavity and some is
reflected. The amount of light that is reflected depends on the reflectivity R
of the surface. If the roundtrip distance between the two mirrors is an
integral multiple of a wavelength l (i.e., l, 2l, 3l, etc.), then all light at those
wavelengths that pass through the right facet add in phase. This means
that these wavelengths interfere constructively in the device output beam
so they add in intensity. These wavelengths are called the resonant
wavelengths of the cavity. The etalon rejects all other wavelengths.

Diffraction Gratings:
A diffraction grating is a conventional optical device that spatially separates the different
wavelengths contained in a beam of light. The device consists of a set of diffracting elements,
such as narrow parallel slits or grooves, separated by a distance comparable to the
wavelength of light. These diffracting elements can be either refl ective or transmitting,
thereby forming a reflection grating or a transmission grating, respectively. Separating and
combining wavelengths with diffraction gratings is a parallel process, as opposed to the
serial process that is used with the fi ber-based Bragg gratings.

Reflection gratings are fine ruled or etched parallel lines on some type of reflective surface.
With these gratings, light will bounce off the grating at an angle. The angle at which the light
leaves the grating depends on its wavelength, so the reflected light fans out in a spectrum.
For DWDM applications, the lines are spaced equally and each individual wavelength will be
reflected at a slightly different angle, as shown in Fig. 10.31.

There can be a reception fiber at each of the positions where the

reflected light gets focused. Thus individual wavelengths will be
directed to separate fibers. The reflective diffraction grating works
reciprocally; that is, if different wavelengths come into the device on
the individual input fibers, all of the wavelengths will be focused back
into one fiber after traveling through the device. One also could have
a photodiode array in place of the receiving fibers for functions such as
power-per-wavelength monitoring.
One type of transmission grating, which is known as a phase grating,
consists of a periodic variation of the refractive index of the grating.