Considerations with

Optical Sources
Physical dimensions to suit the fiber 9
micron fiber core diameter
Narrow radiation pattern (beam width)
to launch enough light into low NA
fiber
Linearity (output light power proportional
to driving current) important for
analog systems
Considerations
Ability to be directly modulated by varying
driving current output light varies with
injected current
Fast response time (wide band) for high
speed links
Adequate output power into the fiber to
go further without repeaters

Considerations
Narrow spectral width (or line width)
to reduce ___________ ?
Stability LED better than LASER
Driving circuit issues impedance
matching
Reliability and cost
Solid State (Semiconductor) Light
Sources
Considering all these factors following SLS
are used in fiber optics
Light Emitting Diode (LED) Forward biased
PN junction
LASER LED with stimulated emission to
provide (1) low line width (2) low beam width
(3) high bandwidth (4) high power and (5)
coherency
Theory of Operation
A PN junction (that consists of direct band
gap semiconductor materials) acts as the
active or recombination region
When the PN junction is forward biased,
electrons and holes recombine either
radiatively (emitting photons) or non-
radiatively (emitting heat). This is simple LED
operation.
In an LASER, the photon is further processed
in a resonance cavity to achieve a coherent,
highly directional optical beam with narrow
linewidth
Energy-Bands
In a pure Gp. IV material, equal number of holes and electrons
exist at different energy levels.
n-type material
Adding group V impurity will create an n- type material
(more electrons than holes)
p-type material
Adding group III impurity will create a p-type material
Light Emission
Basic LED operation: When an electron
jumps from a higher energy state (E
c
) to
a lower energy state (E
v
) the difference
in energy E
c
- E
v
is released either
as a photon of energy E = hv (radiative
recombination)
as heat (non-radiative recombination)
The Light Emitting Diode (LED)
For fiber-optics, the LED should have a
high radiance (light intensity), fast
response time and a high quantum
efficiency
Emitted wavelength depends on band
gap energy E
g
E
g
depends on the type of material
(ratio between them)

eV
) (
24 . 1
m
hc
h E
g

v = = =
Physical Design
Double hetero structure is used to
improve light output (2 p type and 2 n
type)
Each region shall also have the right
refractive index to guide the light (optical
property)
Light is confined in the active region (high
ref. index) due to waveguide operation
Double-Heterostructure configuration
Surface-Emitting LED
larger emitting area
Edge-Emitting LED
The active region is embedded into a
waveguide structure so that the light is directed an edge
Larger active region
More directional radiation (similar to LASER)
LED Spectral Width
Generally LED is a broadband light source (125 nm)
Edge emitting LEDs have slightly narrow line width
Quantum Efficiency
Internal quantum efficiency is the ratio
between the radiative recombination rate
and the sum of radiative and non-
radiative recombination rates

For exponential decay of excess carriers,
the radiative recombination lifetime is
n/R
r
and the non-radiative recombination
lifetime is n/R
nr

) /(
int nr r r
R R R + = q
Internal Quantum Efficiency
If the current injected into the LED is I,
then the total number of recombination
per second is,
R
r
+R
nr
= I/q where, q is the charge of an
electron. That is, R
r
= q
int
I/q.
Since R
r
is the total number of photons
generated per second, the optical power
generated internal to the LED depends
on the internal quantum efficiency

External Efficiency
Not all the light internally generated exits
the LED
The actual light output depends on the
optical properties of the active region and
surrounding material as well as incident
angle of light
Fresnel Reflection and Transmission
Coefficients
At the surface of any two material with n
1

and n
2
ref indices, there will be F. Loss
Fresnel Loss = -10 Log (T)
t Coefficien Reflection
2
2 1
2 1

|
|
.
|

\
|
+

=
n n
n n
R
t Coefficien on Transmissi
) (
4
2
2 1
2 1

+
=
n n
n n
T
External Efficiency
External Efficiency for air
n
2
=1, n
1
= n
2
) 1 (
1
+
=
n n
ext
q
n
1
n
2
Light
emission
cone
I
m
P
ext
) (
24 . 1
int 0

q q =
Optical Power Emitted
Half Power Beam Width (
1/2
)
The angle at
which the power
is half of its
peak value

L = 1 For
Lambertian
source
) ( Cos ) ( u u
L
o
B B =
/2 ) (
2 / 1 o
B B = u
3-dB bandwidths
Optical Power I(f); Electrical Power I
2
(f)
2
) 2 ( 1 / ) ( t tf P f P
o
+ =
Electrical Loss = 2 x Optical Loss
Drawbacks of LED
Large line width (30-40 nm)
Large beam width (Low coupling to the
fiber)
Low output power
Low E/O conversion efficiency
Advantages
Robust
Linear

The LASER
Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission and Radiation (L A S E R)
Coherent light (stimulated emission)
Narrow beam width (very focused beam)
High output power (amplification)
Narrow line width because only few
wavelength will experience a positive
feedback and get amplified (optical
filtering)
Fundamental Lasing Operation
Absorption: An atom in the ground state might
absorb a photon emitted by another atom, thus
making a transition to an excited state.
Spontaneous Emission: random emission of a
photon, which enables the atom to relax to the
ground state.
Stimulated Emission: An atom in an excited
state might be stimulated to emit a photon by
another incident photon.
In Stimulated Emission incident
and stimulated photons will have
Identical energy Identical
wavelength Narrow linewidth
Identical direction Narrow beam
width
Identical phase Coherence and
Identical polarization

Laser Transition Processes
(Stimulated and Spontaneous
Emission)
Energy
absorbed
from the
incoming
photon
Random
release of
energy
Coherent
release of
energy
Stimulated Emission
Fabry-Perot Laser
(resonator) cavity
Mirror Reflections
How a Laser Works
Multimode Laser Output
Spectrum
Longitudinal
Modes
Mode
Separation
(Center Wavelength)
g()
Optical output vs. drive current of a laser
Threshold Current
External Efficiency
Depends on the slope
Laser threshold depends on
Temperature
Distributed Feedback Laser
(Single Mode Laser)
The optical feedback is provided by fiber Bragg Gratings
Only one wavelength get positive feedback
DFB Output Spectrum