Essential Photonic Technology Concepts (PH234)

Synopsis(This course is adapted from the previous course entitled ?Photonic Technology Fundamental and Optical Transceiver Measurements? to place more emphasis on the fundamental of photonic technology.  You may find 70% content resemblance between the two courses.)

The increasing demand for higher data speed has driven the growth in optical communication. Photonic technology is chosen primarily because fiber optics are inexpensive; small and light; resistant to external interference and most importantly has enormous bandwidth. There is increasingly tighter requirement for reliable optical data transmission in the telecommunication network in order to keep up with the higher data rates in the evolving data network protocols.

Personnel who work with photonic components, subsystems and systems need to have a good understanding of photonic technology.  Hence a firm grasp of the photonic technology fundamental concepts is important in understanding the technical challenges faced by the industry.

The course is designed such that the participants will gain the foundation knowledge and broad appreciation of each underlying application, hence increasing their interest and confidence for future undertaking.  The course is delivered with minimal complex equations, stressing on practical applications instead.

Course Highlight
The participants are first taught the basic concepts of photonic technology and its use in optical communication system.  This is followed by measurement theories of commonly-used photonic test equipment.  Once equipped with the essential concepts and measurement knowledge, the participants are then introduced to the operating principles of typical building blocks of an optical communication system.
 
The practical aspects of the course are covered by end-to-end walkthrough of each stage of the optical communication system with various photonic test equipment.
 
Figures below showing the instruments used in the training (subject to availability)
            

What You Will Learn

• Essential fundamental concepts of photonic technology and its use in optical communication system
• Commonly-used photonic test equipment measurement theories such as Power and Loss Analysis
• Operating principles and appreciation for typical building blocks of optical communication system such as light source, modulator, mux/demux, filter, light detector

Who Should AttendEngineers and technicians who wish to increase their understanding of optical-based systems and the knowledge of testing such systems.
 
This course is also applicable to a broad audience from various industries who need to have strong basic understanding of the various concepts, terms and technologies of the photonic industry.

PrerequisiteInterest in photonic and desire to acquire better conceptual understanding in this area. Technical background in electrical, electronics, physics, and mathematics at Diploma or Degree levels would be desirable.

Course MethodologyThe students are first taught the basic concepts with the aid of video and slides presentation. The concepts are then re-enforced through exercises and examples of how the theories are applied in real system. Demonstrations using the measurement instruments and building blocks of an optical communication system will be carried out to illustrate various principles and techniques.
 
The photonics components used in this training are:

• Light source
• Modulator
• Coupler/Mux/Demux
• Attenuator
• Demodulator
• Light detector

• Signal Generator
• Power Meter and Sensor
• Digital Communication Analyzer

Course Duration3 days, 9am - 5pm

Course StructureOverview of Optical Fiber Communication

• Basic network information rates
• The evolution of fiber optic systems
• Elements of an optical fiber transmission link
• Optical communication system requirements and limitations
• Technological trends of optical communication systems

Fundamental of Optics

• Light properties and propagation
• Geometrical optics (ray tracing, plane surface, spherical surface, lenses, graded index materials, matrix optics)
• Wave optics
• Polarization and crystal optics 

Lightwave Fundamentals

• Light properties
• EM spectrum
• Optical power
• Coherence
• Interference
• Reflection
• Polarization

Optical Networks

• Wide Area Network (WAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Local Area Network (LAN)
• Optical network standards: SONET/SDH, WDM, DWDM, OTN, FTTx, Fiber Channel, Gigabit Ethernet
• Basic optical link design

Fibers

• Step index (SI) fiber, multimode fiber (MMF), single mode fiber (SMF)
• Optical fiber properties, modal dispersion, chromatic dispersion (CD), polarization mode dispersion (PMD)
• Connector technology and connector types: PC, APC, FC, LC, SC, DIN, etc.
• Adaptors and splices

Passive Components

• Patchcords
• Couplers
• Isolators
• Filters
• Circulators
• MUX/DEMUX

Active Components

• Modulators: Michelson interferometer, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, electro-absorption modulator  (EAM), etc.
• Filters
• Amplifiers
• Transmitters and receivers

Optical Amplifiers

• Erbium properties
• EDFA
• Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE)
• Other amplifier types: SOA, PDFA, etc.

Transmitters and Receivers

• Light sources: LED, FP laser, DFP laser, VCSEL laser
• Other light sources: white light source, ASE source, external cavity laser
• Photodiodes: PIN diode, avalanche photodiode (APD)