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ECEN 4116 - Introduction to Optical Communications

Catalog Data ECEN 4116 (3). Introduction to Optical Communications. Given data rates, distance, reliability or bit error rates, the information required to specify the type of fiber, the source, the wave length, type of modulation, repeater or optical amplifiers, and detectors will be presented.
Credits and Design 3 credit hours. Elective course.
Prerequisite(s) ECEN 3400, Electromagnetic Fields and Waves
Textbook Palais, Joseph, Optical Fiber Communications, 5th Ed., 2005.
Course Objectives The goal of this course is to present the information required to design optical communications systems. These are the major systems for transmitting voice, data, and video over long distances. This subject is important for many telecommunications students and a significant fraction of electrical engineering students.
Topics Covered
  1. Introduction and some history of lasers and optical fiber systems
  2. A review of electromagnetic theory and the approximations that apply to the optical part of the spectrum
  3. Ray theory and ABCD matrices applied to lens and cavities
  4. Optical Wave guides
    1. slab waveguides
    2. cylindrical waveguides
  5. Connectors and couplers
  6. Optical sources
    1. LED's
    2. lasers
  7. Detectors
    1. PIN diodes
    2. APO
    3. signal and noise (BER)
    4. optical amplifiers
  8. Modulation (AM, FM, TOMA, WOM)
  9. System design
