FIBER OPTICS COMMUNICATION

MANAV Soni
D Brave Heart
 Emission and Absorption
 emission is the process by which a higher
energy quantum mechanical state of a particle
becomes converted to a lower one through a
photon, resulting in the production of light. The
frequency of light emitted is a function of the
energy of the transition.
 Light emission can occur through two
fundamental processes known as spontaneous
emission and stimulated emission.
 Stimulated & Spontaneous Emission
 In the case of spontaneous emission, photons are
emitted in random directions with no phase
relationship among them. Stimulated emission, by
contrast, is initiated by an existing photon.

 Stimulated emission is that the emitted photon

matches the original photon not only in energy (or
in frequency), but also in its other characteristics,
such as the direction of propagation. All lasers,
including semiconductor lasers, emit light
through the process of stimulated emission and
are said to emit coherent light.
 Absorption of electromagnetic radiation is the
way by which the energy of a photon is taken up
by matter, typically the electrons of an atom.
Thus, the electromagnetic energy is transformed
to other forms of energy for example, to heat.

 The absorption of light during wave propagation

is often called attenuation.
 p-n Junction in OF

 At the heart of a semiconductor optical source

is the p–n junction, formed by bringing a p-
type and an n-type semiconductor into contact.
Recall that a semiconductor is made n-type or
p-type by doping it with impurities whose
atoms have an excess valence electron or one
less electron compared with the semiconductor
atoms.
 In a heavily doped n-type semiconductor, the
Fermi level Ef c lies inside the conduction band;
such semiconductors are said to be degenerate.
Similarly, the Fermi level E f v moves toward the
valence band for p-type semiconductors and lies
inside it under heavy doping. In thermal
equilibrium, the Fermi level must be continuous
across the p–n junction. This is achieved through
diffusion of electrons and holes across the
junction.
 When a p–n junction is forward biased by applying
an external voltage, the builtin electric field is
reduced. This reduction results in diffusion of
electrons and holes across the junction. An
electric current begins to flow as a result of
carrier diffusion.

 When forward bised These electrons and holes

can recombine through spontaneous or
stimulated emission and generate light in a
semiconductor optical source.
p-n Junction Diagram
 Nonradiative Recombination
 Nonradiative recombination mechanisms
include recombination at traps or defects,
surface recombination, and the Auger
recombination

 In the Auger recombination process, the energy

released during electron–hole recombination is
given to another electron or hole as kinetic
energy rather than producing light.
 The electron in transition between bands passes
through a new energy state created within the
band gap by an impurity in the crystal lattice. The
impurity state can absorb differences in
momentum between the carriers, and so this
process is the dominant generation and
recombination process in silicon and other
indirect bandgap materials. It can also dominate
in direct bandgap materials under conditions of
very low carrier densities (very low level
injection). The energy is exchanged in the form of
lattice vibration, or a phonon exchanging thermal
energy with the material.
Nonradiative Recombination
 Semiconductor Materials
 A semiconductor is a material with
electrical conductivity due to electron flow (as opposed
to ionic conductivity) intermediate in magnitude
between that of a conductor and an insulator. This
means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8
siemens per centimeter.

 Semiconductor materials are the foundation of modern

electronics, including radio, computers, telephones, and
many other devices. Such devices include transistors,
solar cells, many kinds of diodes including the light-
emitting diode, the silicon controlled rectifier, and
digital and analog integrated circuits.
 Silicon is used to create most semiconductors
commercially. Dozens of other materials are used,
including germanium, gallium arsenide, and
silicon carbide. A pure semiconductor is often c
alled an “intrinsic” semiconductor.

 the electrons can have energies only within

certain bands . Energetically, these bands are
located between the energy of the ground state,
corresponding to electrons tightly bound to the
atomic nuclei of the material, and the free electron
energy. The latter is the energy required for an
electron to escape entirely from the material
 When ionizing radiation strikes a semiconductor,
it may excite an electron out of its energy level
and consequently leave a hole. This process is
known as electron–hole pair generation. Electron-
hole pairs are constantly generated from
thermal energy as well, in the absence of any
external energy source.
 The property of semiconductors that makes them
most useful for constructing electronic devices is
that their conductivity may easily be modified by
introducing impurities into their crystal lattice.
The process of adding controlled impurities to a
semiconductor is known as doping.
Bandgap Diagram