By: Amit Tripathy

The optical communication system consists of the following components: Transmitter: modulator. It consists of carrier generator and

Carrier: It is usually a light beam that is modulated by turning it on and off with digital pulses.

Receiver: It is a light or photo detector that converts receiver light back to electrical signal.

 The

two most sources are:

commonly

used

light

Light

emitting diodes(LED) Semiconductor lasers

LED is a p-n junction diode, emitting light through spontaneous emission when forward biased, a

phenomenon referred to as electroluminescence.

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The emitted light is incoherent.

Communications LEDs are most commonly made from

gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) or gallium

arsenide (GaAs).
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They can be designed to emit virtually any color of light.

The LEDs used for fiber-optic transmission are usually red and near infra red region. These frequencies are chosen because most fiber-optic cables have lowest losses in these frequency ranges. The light output of LEDs are expressed in watts or dB with typical values of 10-50W or -15 to -30dB. A typical LED is relatively slow to turn on and off and has a typical turn on/off time of 150ns which is too slow for data communication by fiber optics.

The transfer rate is in the order of 10-100 Mbit/s and transmission distances of a few kilometers. LED lights are inefficient with only 1% of input power couples with cable but due to their relatively simpler designs they are useful in low cost applications.

A semiconductor laser emits light through stimulated emission rather than spontaneous emission, which results in high output power (~100 mW). The light is coherent and monochromatic. They can be turned on/off at a very fast rate and hence they are capable of data rates of the order of gigabits per second over long distances.

It is a PN junction diode made of GaAs also known as Fabry-Perot laser. It emits high intensity single frequency light.

The other types of laser used in communication is VCSEL, Tunable Laser. The lasers can be modulated in two ways: Direct and Indirect .

fiber-optic

In Direct modulator the data rate is several gigabits per second whereas beyond this rate Indirect modulators are used.

 LED

Transmitter:

This circuit can operate at data rates up to 3.125Gbps.

It contains an automatic power control(APC) unit that maintains a constant laser output.
A mux is used to either pass the data directly to laser driver transistors or select data that is clocked via a flip flop and external clock signal. Enable/disable signals are used to turn off/on.

It consists of a detector that senses the light pulses and converts them back to electrical signals. The signal is then amplified and shaped into original digital data. The various light sensors are: Photodiode Phototransistors PIN Diode Avalanche diode

It is a Si PN junction diode that is sensitive to light. The diode is normally reversed biased and only a small leakage current flows through it. When the light strikes the diode, the leakage current increases significantly and causes a voltage drop across a resistor that results in output voltage pulse.

These are more sensitive to small light levels, but they are relatively slow. Further amplification and pulse shaping is normally used.

It consists of an undoped intrinsic layer between the P and N semiconductors. The sensitivity is increased. Response time is greatly decreased.

It is the fastest and most sensitive photodiode available but is expensive and circuitry is complex. The data rate in the order of several Gbps can be achieved. Normally several hundred volts of reverse bias, just below the avalanche threshold are applied. When the light strikes the junction breakdown occurs and a large current flows.

It is an integrated circuit that uses external PIN or APD and can operate at rates up to 3.125Gbps. The input stage known as Transimpedance amplifier converts diode current to an output voltage and amplifies it. The next stage is a limiter that shapes the signal and applies it to a differential driver amplifier. The output is capacitively coupled to next stage of the system. A signal detect circuit provides a CMOS logic output that indicates the presence of input signal if the diode current exceeds a specific lower value. The circuit operates on 3.3 or 5V DC. An onboard regulator provides bias to diode.