Optical Sources

Light Sources for fiber optic

• Two major light sources for fiber optic communications:
• Laser diodes
• Light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
• These heterojunction-structure semiconductor have :
• Adequate output power
• Power output can be modulated by varying input current
• High efficiency
• The dimensions are compatible with optical fiber
LED vs Laser
• The optical output from an LED is incoherent, whereas that from
laser diodes is coherent
• The coherent is produced in an optical resonant cavity, therefore :
• Highly monochromatic
• Beam is very directional
Fiber and Source Characteristics
• Characteristics of the fiber to determine an optical source :
• Geometry
• Attenuation
• Group delay (bandwidth)
• Modal characteristics
• Factors of an optical source to be selected :
• Power
• Spectral width
• Radiation pattern
• modulation
Energy bands
•
Energy bands
• Doping (adding impurities
from V elements, such as P,
As, Sb) can increase
conduction.
• The current is carried
(negative) electrons → n-
type material
Energy bands

• Doping (adding impurities

from III elements) can
increase conduction.
• The current is carried
(negative) electrons → p-
type material
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Material
• Intrinsic material → A material containing no impurities
• Thermal generation → the process produces free electron-hole pairs because
of thermal vibrations of the crystal atoms
• Recombination → the opposite of the generation
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Material
• Extrinsic material → small quantities of chemical impurities into a crystal
• Electrical conductivity is proportional to the carrier concentration
• Two types of charge carriers :
• Majority carriers → electrons in n-type material or holes in p-type material
• Minority carriers → holes in n-type material or electrons in p-type material
PN Junctions
• The depletion region has no mobile
carriers since its electrons and holes
are locked into covalent bond
structure
PN Junctions
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
• For bit rates less than approximately 100 to 200 Mb/s
• Multimode fiber
• Less complex than laser diodes
• Less expensive fabrication than laser diodes
LED Structures
• LED for fiber transmission applications must have :
• A high radiance output
• A fast emission response time
• A high quantum efficiency
Double-hetero structure
configuration
• The carriers and optical
field are confined in the
central active layer
• The band-gap differences
of adjacent layers confine
the charge carriers
Basic LED configurations
LED Spectral patterns
Internal Quantum Efficiency
• Carriers injection provide an excess of electrons and holes
• The fraction of electron-hole pairs that recombine radiatively.
• Internal quantum efficiency 𝜂0 is the ratio of the radiative recombination rate
to the total recombination rate
Laser Diodes
• The emitted radiation has spatial and temporal coherence
• The output radiation is highly monochromatic
• The light beam is very directional
Laser transition processes
Fabry-Perot resonator cavity
Threshold conditions

• Optical output vs. drive

current
Quiz
• See EMAS!