Optical Communications

This module covers fiber-optic telecommunications systems and networks, performance analysis, and solutions for improvement.

Understand the physical principles and operation of the main components and transmission systems used in optical telecommunications networks.

Understand the various network topologies and be able to evaluate their performance for optical communications.

Semiconductor physics and optoelectronic components, electromagnetism, guided propagation, and propagation in fibers.

Recommended prerequisites*:

Signal Processing, Information Theory.

Final Exam

• Nonlinear phenomena resulting from light-matter interaction (7.5 hours):
  • Fundamental Concepts of Nonlinear Optics
  • An overview of the nonlinear effects involved in optical communication systems:
    • Diffusion phenomena in fibers (Kerr effect, Raman scattering (SRS), Brillouin scattering (SBS), soliton propagation).
    • Other nonlinear effects: wavelength conversion, phase modulation (self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), four-wave mixing (FWM)).

• Transmission line for optical communications (9h):
  • Transmission line components (transmitter, receiver, regenerators, OLT/ONU optical module (transceiver), coherent detection)
  • Information Detection: Eye Diagram, Noise Calculation, Electrical and Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratios, Sensitivity, Bit Error Rate (BER), Jitter, Forward Error Correction (FEC)
  • Optical modulation, demodulation, and coding,
  • Managing Losses in Optical Fibers: Optical Budget, Amplifier Placement, Gain Equalization, Overview of Fiber Amplifiers, Raman Amplifiers, and SC Amplifiers.
  • Managing Dispersion in Fibers: An Overview of the Issue and Compensation Methods.
  • Handling Nonlinear Effects

• Networks (9 a.m.):
  • Network Topology: Long-distance, terrestrial, submarine, metropolitan, local, FTTX, SDH/SONET standards
  • Point-to-point or point-to-multipoint architecture, PON, WDMPON
  • Consistent Detection
  • Multiplexing: TDM, CDM, WDM, SCM, radio over fiber

CM: 25:30

• Nonlinear Fiber Optics, by Govind P. Agrawal, 5th edition, Elsevier
• Fiber Optic Communication Systems, by Govind P. Agrawal, 4th edition, Wiley
• Fiber-Optic Communications, 4th Edition, Pierre Lecoy, Lavoisier Hermes