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Department of ECE
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET)

K opticat source
Optica I Sou rce
Optica I

Transmitter
\*** Optical Modulator

Optical source
. Semiconductor source mainly LEDs,
LASER
I **quirements of Optical Source
I
a
The light output should be highly directional.
a
The source should be linear.
o
Should emit light at wavelengths where the fiber has lot losses
and low dispersion and where the detectors are efficient.
Preferably capable of simple signal modulation (i.e. direct)
over a wide bandwidth.
o
Must couple sufficient optical power.
a
Should have a very naffow spectral bandwidth (linewidth) in
order to minimize dispersion in the fiber.
Must be capable of maintaining a stable optical output in
ambient conditions.
. It is essentialthatthe source is comparatively cheap and highly
reliable.

& oosorption and Emission

Absorption Spontaneous Emission Stimulated Emission

lf the Photon energy Excited atom return to lnitiated by existing photon

hv is equalto Es=E2-E1, their normal state and and remarkable feature is,
the photon is emit light, called Spon. emitted photons are in
absorbed by atom. Emission. However its phase (Coherent) with the
random. original.
t] ,&
\,
I Eha I /f,Cffr
 ,/
,

Optical Emission from Semiconductor

7
d
Conduction band
a a ta a at a a

o o o o o oo
oo
Valence band

I Electrons o Holes
o+1Pt.t
(a) (b)

Band Structure of Intrinsic Semiconductor

p-Type and n-Type Semiconductor

Energy band diagram

Energy
Conduction band Electrons
a a a oao a a aa
aaoaaaa a'.
<- Donor impurity level
------LF-- C

-- Er ----
Acceptor impurity level ---+ -
ooo oo O O O O O On
-o O

Valence band
o o o oo c
H oles

(a) (b)

t-t
\.2 s
n-type Semiconductor p-type Semiconductor
 \

$ ,-, Junction
Depletion layer

oooo:o OO @@o The Width of depletion

o o o o 1,., a Electrons
aaa
^l.)C,
^ooI:"
A OO oo. o Holes region and magnirude of
o e o eoiO o O Acceptors
tooO:O 6 .o. @ Donors
potential barrier is
(a)
dependent on Doping
and External applied
voltage "

With Forward biased, the

carriers are effectively
diffused, which form a
current flow.

Spontaneous Emission

\ Potential
barrier

hf *a.n
#hf

\ -\-----l-
\rooooo
- ooo
HOICS

Forward biased p-n diode leads to the recombination of

carriers across the bandgap.
The energy released by this electron-hole re-combination is
approximately equal to the bandgap energy:
Eg: hf : hcfi,
C: veloci.tst of [,ioht ).: Ontical Wovelenoth
 ,,nht Emittins Diode (LED)
7
d
LEDs have number ofAdvantages as a optical source in
optical fiber communication.
. Simpler fabrication
. Cost
. Reliability
. Generally less temperafure dependence
. Simpler derive circuitry
. Line artty
However, the main Drawbacks are:
. Lower optical power
. Lower modulation bandwidth
. Harmonic distortion

ttD Power and EfFiciency

I
. Thepawer generated internally by an LED may be determined
by consideration of the excess electrons and holes in the p- and
n-tlpe material respectively (i.e. the minority carriers) when it
is forward biased.
. The excess minority carrier density decays exponentially with
time r
Ln = An(0)exp(-t/r) ...(1) ...
An(0)is the initial injected
Where
excsss elecffon density andt is total carrierrecombinationtime.
. Rate equation for carrier recombination in the LED can be
expressed as
d(Ln) _ I _an
(2)
dtedr
I
Electrons per cubic meter ../: Current Density, e : Electron charge ,
 \

\
ttD Power and Efficiency
&
At equilibrium condition,
Ln:1 ea.
(3)

Equation (2) also shows that the totalnumber of carier

recombination per second
+:* .-....(4)
:fr*fr,"""" ""'(5)
rrand radiative and non-radiative
rnra:re the
recornbination rate per unit volume.
When the forward-biased current into the device l, the total
recombinations per second R,
ftr: ile.. .......(6)

LED Power and Efficiency

I
. If the LED internal quantum efficiency 4r* then
Tt. _ T,
lint:i:d .. (T)

-&
Rr
...... ..(g)
Rearrange the equation (8) and substitute from (6) gives:

ffr =
j
'?*, #

. Since R, is also equivalent to the total number of photons

generated per second and each photon has an energy equal to
hf joules, then the optical power generated internally by the
LED
I
Prn = t1rrrl
e
llf W 4* = t?m, X {\'v}
 LED Power and Efficiency
d
For the exponential decay of excess carriers depicted by Eq. (1),
the radiative minority carrier lifetime is Tr:_ A,nlr, and the
nonradiative minority carrier lifetime is +:"nr Lnlrr, , oe. Q)
becomes:
T
lJint = ILr

Exercise 1:

The radiative and nonradiative recombination lifetiures of the rninority carriers in the
active region of a double-heterojunction LED are 60 ns and 100 ns respectively.
Determine,the total carrier recorribiuation lifetirne ancl the po\,ver internall5r gbner-
atecl within the device when the peak enrissiort r,r,avelength i;0.87 FIn at a clrive cur-
rent of 40 nrA.

External Power Efficiency

I
The external power efliciency r7"o is defined as the ratio of the
optical power emitted external|y P uto the electric power provided
to the device P or
p
4*p: Vx 10,0%
Also, the optical power emitt ed P u into a medium of low refractive
index n fromthe face of a planar LED fabricated from a material of
refractive index n*is given approximately by

D_ "fl,,,'F#
I E^-
4ol

where P,n is the power generated internally and F is the

1-^- i i Ta n*nr. ..f +h o o orr" i nnn rlr r nfnr-crrfertr q 1 i nferfa ee
 \
t*ernal Power Efficiency
X

Exercis e 2:

a.uplins Efficiency
!
If it is assumed for Step index fibers that all the light incident on
the exposed end of the core within the acceptance angle 0o is
coupled, then for a fiber tn air,:
s, = sin '(rr? - fi1| * sin-rfu\Fl)
For a Lambertian source, the radiant intensity at an angle 0, (e),
I
ls glven Dy,

Planar
surface
{q=IacrsI

I{0) = /o cos 0
 Efficiency
{Crupling
Considering a source which is smaller than, and in close
proximity to, the fiber core, and assuming cylindrical symmetry,
the coupling efficiency U" is given by:
1e"

n-
I rtsl sin o cl6
'tr Jo

T-
{0) sin 0 d0
J,
By using Radiant intensity of LED,
f'" to*
|
Jo
1ocos9sin0d0 I rosin2Bda
t*6cos20121fl'.
11 = - Jo
r* t- 4 cos Zs1z]fi"
f' Io cos 0 sin I dS
I
Jo
1o sin 29 c16

= sinr 0n

Furthermore, e, : sinr S" = (Id4),

Couplins Efficiency
I
Exercise 3:
The light output from the GaAs LED of Exercise 2 is coupled into
a step index fiber with a numerical aperfure of a.2, a core
refractive index of 1 .4 and a diameter larger than the diameter of
the device. Estimate:
(a) The coupling efficiency into the fiber when the LED is
in close proximity to the fiber core.
(b) The optical loss in decibels, relative to the power
emitted from the LED, when coupling the light output into the
fiber.
(c) The loss relative to the internally generated optical
power in the device when coupling the light output into the fiber
when there is a small air gap between the LED and the fiber core.
 \

\
rn" double-heterojunction LED
X
Al,Ga,*,As GaAs Al,Gar-,As
I
I
<{
I I ll <{r
^l
LJr--> i,t
yu
\b
I
Iniection
o--->
(Hi
:...
Oa
'I
o---* |
<--a
electrons
^t a I
G-*$-+
o---*
^ o--ti
v-_--.>
I

i
!E
,al

P 'T--.
0ptical
output

o--t*
I
*-i.
t L*
^
"t---|
I
I
O n^ O O O n
I
I
o ooooo o
HolesoOoO
H eteroj unctions

. The device shown consists of a p-type GaAs layer sandwiched

between a p-type AlGaAs and an n-type AlGaAs layer.
. electroluminescence only occurs in the GaAs junction layer,
providing both good internal quantum efficiency and high-
radiance emission

LED structures; Surface Emitter LEDs

X Liqht output

Multimode optical fiber

Metal tab
-r n-AlGaAs

-50 $m p-GaAs

,L .p-AlGaAs
p -uaAs
Gold stud
Metallization

Prinrary I i ght-emitting region

diameter

obtain high radiance by restrict the emission to a small active region

within the device.
The power coupled Pc into a multimode step index fiber may be
estimated as
E=mfl-*dff*fffC}a
 Emitter LEDs
d =ose Stripe
l*-:so pm----+l

Metallization

n-AlGaAs
(active layer)
Carrier
confinement
layers

. Stripe geometry DH edge emitter LED (ELED)

a
Transparent guiding layers with a very thin active layer (50 to 100 pm).
o
The consequent waveguiding narrows the beam divergence to a half-
power width of around 30'.
Surface Emitting vs Edge Emitting LEDs---self Study

a=D Characteristics ; Linearity

I
Light output
(power)
Intrinsically the LED is a very
Linear device, suitable for analog
transmission.
However, in practice LEDs do
exhibit significant Nonlinearities.
Current

t2 12
10 10

Lisht B
Lisht 8
output 6 output 6
(mW) (mW)
4 4

100 ?a0
Current (mA)
 \
t=D characteristics Temperatu re Dependence
I ;

10

0ptical
Light
outpui output 2
power (mUJ)

(mW) 1

i=200mA SLD

020406080 0 5c 100 150 200 250

Current (mA)
Temperature (nC)

Optical output power decreases as the p-njunction temperafure

increases.
a
ELED exhibits greatu temperature dependence than SLED.
a
With Increase of Temperature, Non-linearrty significantly
improved.

LED Characteristics ; Output Spectrum

t.2 1.25 L.3 1.35 1.4

- 1.16 7.24 1.28 t.32 1.36 1.40
Wavelength (pm) Wavelength (pm)

Active layer doping density effect 10

lncreasing temperature J

the spectral width and peak oB

emission wavelength. I
*
ELED provides narrower optical !
spectmm than SLED. E" ts

Temperature effects on spectrum = o,

broadening and Peak Emission
 ,/
,/

u latio n bandwidth
dN4od Cu rrent
ratio
J"r, Electrical 3 dB point
I,n
1.0
Optical 3 dB point
0.707

0.500

Electrical bandwidth --+l

0ptical bandwidth

. The modulation bandwidth in optical communications may be

defined in either electrical or optical terms.
It corresponds to frequency at which power is reduced by Half
i.e.,3dB.
Optical BW is larger than the Electrical BW.

Modulation bandwidth
I
The modulation bandwidth of LEDs is generally determined by
Three Mechanisms. These are:
(a) The doping level in the active layer;
(b) The reduction in radiative lifetime due to the
injected carriers;
(c) The parasitic capacitance of the device.
The speed at which an LED can be directly current modulated is
fundamentally limited by the recombination lifetime of the carriers,
where the optical output power P,(a) of the device (with constant
peak current) and angular modulation frequency ar is given by

4(c* -
D
ldc [1 + (rrrr,)e]i
 --

Exercis e 4:
Compare the electrical and optical bandwidths for an optical fiber
communication system and develop a rclationship between them.

Exercise 5:
The minority carrier recombination lifetime for an LED is 5 ns.
When a constant d.c. drive current is applied to the device the optical
output power is 300 pW
Determine the optical output power when the device is
modulated with an nns drive current coffesponding to the d.c. drive
current at frequencies of (a) 20lvftIz; (b) 100 MHz.
It may be assumed that parasitic capacitance is negligible.
Further, Determine the 3 dB optical bandwidth for the device and
estimate the 3 dB electrical bandwidth assuming a Gaussian
response.