Lasers and Modulators for Fiber Optic Communications 

Instructor: Dr. John Carteledge, Queen's University

Course Content

Semiconductor lasers

• requirements for lasing
• structure
• Fabry-Perot lasers, spectrum, oscillation condition
• L-I curve
• distributed feedback laser (DFB), spectrum, coupled wave equations
• multiple quantum well (MQW) lasers
• vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)
• tunable lasers
• modulation dynamics, small-signal intensity modulation response
• line-width (phase noise), intensity noise
• laser chirp
• small-signal FM response (carrier and thermal contributions)
• large-signal (digital) modulation response
• transmission performance

External Modulators

• LiNbO₃ Mach-Zehnder modulators
• Electro-absorption modulators
• MQW Mach-Zehnder modulators
• characterization of modulators
• modulator chirp, a-parameter, time-resolved chirp
• frequency response
• transmission performance