Fall Semester

2024-2025

IT438
Communication Technology
Kamal Hamza, PhD Acknowledgement: This presentation contains
some figures and text from Data Communications
[email protected] and Networks book by W. Stallings
Passive Star Couplers (PSC)

Passive star couplers:

 Optical devices used in fiber optic networks to split or combine optical signals.

 They are passive because they do not require external power to operate; they
rely solely on the physical properties of the fiber to distribute light signals.

 These devices are commonly used in broadcast-and-select networks, where

one signal needs to be distributed to multiple receivers or where multiple
signals need to be combined.

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Passive Star Couplers (PSC) (cont.)
An 8x8 PSC is shown below:

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Passive Star Couplers (PSC) (cont.)
A 16x16 PSC is shown below:

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 Passive Star Couplers (PSC) (cont.)
• In the PSC, the optical power that each output receives Pout
equals:

• where Pin is the optical power introduced into the star by a single
node and N is the number of output ports of the star.

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Transmitters

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The Laser

• In order to understand optical transmitters we need to understand the basic

concepts of lasers.
• The word laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation.
• Stimulated emission: allows a laser to produce intense high-powered beams
of coherent light (light that contains one or more distinct frequencies).

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The Laser (cont.)

• To understand the concept of stimulated emission, we must get some
basic idea on the energy levels of atoms.

• In each atom, there are a number of discrete levels of energy that an

electron can have (states).

• Stable Atoms: are in the ground state. In such a state, atoms have
electrons that are in the lowest possible energy levels.

• To change the level of an electron in the ground state, the atom must
absorb energy.
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The Laser (cont.)

• When an atom absorbs energy, it becomes excited, and moves to a higher
energy level.

• At this point, the electron is unstable, and usually moves quickly back to
the ground state by releasing a photon (a particle of light).

• Quasi-stable states: the substance can stay in the excited state for longer
periods of time.

• Applying enough energy to a substance in quasi-stable states for a long

enough period of time causes population inversion.

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The Laser (cont.)

• Population inversion: a state which means that there are more electrons in
the excited state than in the ground state.

• Population inversion allows the substance to emit more light than it absorbs.

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The Laser (cont.)

• Lasing medium is made of a quasi-stable substance.

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The Laser (cont.)

• Excitation device excites electrons in the lasing medium.

• When an electron drops back to the ground state it emits a photon of light.

• The photon will reflect off the mirrors at each end of the cavity, and will
pass through the medium again.

• Stimulated emission occurs when a photon passes very closely to an excited

electron.

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The Laser (cont.)

• The photon may cause the electron to release its energy and return to the
ground state: a coherent photon is released.

• The process continues and the light at the selected frequency builds in
intensity.

• The length of the cavity controls the frequency of the emitted light.

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The Laser (cont.)

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Semiconductor Diode Lasers

• Very simple and useful for optical communication.

• Can be simply implemented using a p-n junction with mirrored edges

perpendicular to the junction.

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Main Characteristics of Lasers

• Some of the physical characteristics of lasers which may affect system
performance are:

 laser linewidth,
 Frequency instability, and
 the number of longitudinal modes.

• Laser linewidth: is the spectral width of the light generated be the laser.

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Main Characteristics of Lasers (cont.)

• Frequency instabilities: are variations in the laser frequency. Important types:
 mode hopping
 mode shifts

• The number of longitudinal modes: is the number of wavelengths that a laser

can amplify.
 Unwanted longitudinal modes may result in significant dispersion.
 It is desirable to implement lasers which produce only a single longitudinal model.

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Tunable Lasers
• Transmitters used in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) networks often
require the capability to tune to different wavelengths.

• Tunability characteristics:
 Tuning range: Wide and continuous range of over 100 nm
 Tuning time: Rapid (< ms ranges)
 Tuning capability: continuously vs. discretely tunable
 Long lifetime and stable over lifetime
 Easily controllable and manufacturable

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Types of Tunable Lasers

• Tunable lasers can be implemented using different methods:
 Mechanically-Tuned lasers
 Physically adjust the distance between the two mirrors on either end of the cavity
 Wide tuning range
 Slow tuning time (order of ms)
 Acousto-optic and Electro-optic -Tuned lasers
 Use either sound waves or electrical current
 Moderate tuning range
 Moderate tuning time (order of tens of ns)
 Injection-Current-Tuned lasers
 Main drawback: mode hopping

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Types of Tunable Lasers (cont.)

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Laser Arrays
• Instead of using tunable lasers, one can implement a laser array, which
contains a set of fixed-tuned lasers.

• A laser array consists of a number of lasers which are integrated into a single
component, with each laser operating at a different wavelength.

• The advantage of using a laser array is that, if each of the wavelengths in the
array is modulated independently, then multiple transmissions may take place
simultaneously.

• A possible drawback: the number of wavelengths is fixed.

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