Photonic & Microwave Transmitters & Receivers

The program associated with this course proposes to the student to acquire a global vision of photonic and microwave transmitters and receivers from the physics of the materials to the active component and its conditioning. Microwave amplifiers and oscillators will be treated in parallel with optical and laser amplifiers in order to highlight the obvious analogies between these two frequency domains. The targeted competences are thus the knowledge of the operation and the main characteristics of these active components, optical and microwave, essential in the realization of telecom systems, sensors, radars, etc.

The objectives of this EU are multiple:

• Basic knowledge of the fabrication of semiconductor structures, knowledge of the physical principles of operation of optoelectronic and microwave components.
• Know the main applications of optoelectronic and microwave components.
• Understand the operation of optical and microwave amplifiers and oscillators, know their main characteristics in order to be able to choose them or use them wisely in more complex systems.

Basics of semiconductor physics, S-parameters, propagation in free space and in guided media (especially microwave lines), diffraction and interference

Recommended prerequisites*:

Basics of electromagnetism.

Continuous control

Optical amplifiers

1. Introduction: why amplify
2. Wave-Matter Interaction

• Wave aspect (Lorentz model) & corpuscular aspect
• Effective sections
• Homogeneous and inhomogeneous widths

1. Fiber optic amplifiers

• Amplification in active fibers
• 2, 3 or 4 level systems
• Detailed study of a 3-level system:

Gain, population inversion, gain saturation by pump and signal

1. Introduction to semiconductor amplifiers

Lasers

1. Introduction & history
2. Continuous laser oscillation

• Fabry-Perot cavity with gain & loss : conditions for the laser effect (amplitude and phase)
• Laser power and gain lock
• Spectral properties of a homogeneous / inhomogeneous gain laser, spatial hole burning
• Frequency attraction

1. Continuous laser dynamics

• Evolution equations
• Classes of the dynamics of a laser
• Multi-modal dynamics (Lyapunoff coefficients)

1. Spatial and temporal coherence: definition, measurement and quantitative quantities
2. Principle of operation of pulsed lasers :

• Spiking lasers
• Triggered lasers(Q-switch)
• Mode-locked lasers

1. Zoology of lasers
2. Laser safety

Materials / Semiconductor lasers 

1. Introduction
2. Semiconductors - structural properties
3. Semiconductors - electronic properties
4. Lasers
5. Semiconductor lasers
6. Electro-optical characterization of semiconductor lasers
7. Application of semiconductor lasers

Microwave components 

1. Reminder of semiconductor physics
2. Microwave diodes

• 1. PN diode
• 2. PiN diode
• 3. Gunn diode
• 4. Schottky diode
• 5. Tunnel Diode
• 6. Avalanche diode

1. Microwave transistors

• 1. Bipolar transistor (BJT, HBT)
• 2. Field effect transistor (MESFET, HEMT)

1. Microwave applications

• 1. Receivers
• 2. Transmitters

Microwave amplifiers and oscillators

1. Amplifier

• Transistor-based design
• The stability of transistors
• Adaptation and stability
• Earnings
• Amplifier noise
• Wide band amplifier
• Power amp

1. Microwave oscillators

• Features
• Low-frequency oscillators
  • Oscillation conditions
  • Stabilization
  • L and C based circuits
  • Quartz oscillators
• Microwave oscillators
  • Oscillation conditions
  • Diode oscillators
  • Transistor oscillators
  • Oscillators with resonant dielectrics
• Variable frequency oscillators
• Very high power amplifiers and oscillators

Visible and IR optical detectors 

1. Photometry
2. Visible area
3. Gain detectors
4. IR spectral domain: Background of IR: Planck's law, spectral emittance, transmission window of the atmosphere, thermal IR SWIR, MWIR, LWIR, VLWIR, multispectrality, choice of spectral bands, thermal contrast criterion for imaging, order of magnitude. IR photodetectors versus thermodetectors.
5. The figures of merit of IR detectors 
6. Fabrication and characterization of an IR PD
7. IR cameras

Noise

1. Basic nature of noise
2. Shot Noise (optical and electronic) + other electronic noise
3. Photodetection and Noise
4. Noise in oscillators
5. Noise in amplifiers
6. Noise in optoelectronic systems

CM : 84h