Optical Communication

Abstract

The idea of this chapter is to give an overview on optical communication systems. The most important devices for fiber-optic transmission systems are presented, and their properties discussed. In particular, we consider such systems working with those basic components which are necessary to explain the principle of operation. Among them is the optical transmitter, consisting of a light source, typically a low speed LED or a high speed driven laser diode. Furthermore, the optical receiver has to be mentioned; it consists of a photodiode and a low noise, high bit rate, front-end amplifier. Yet, in the focus of the considerations, you will find the optical fiber as the dominant element in optical communication systems. Different fiber types are presented, and their properties explained. The joint action of these three basic components can lead to fiber-optic systems, mainly applied to data communication. The systems can operate as transmission links with bit rates up to 40 Gbit/s. But communication systems are also used for recent application areas in the MBit/s region, e.g. in aviation, automobile, and maritime industry. Therefore—besides pure glass fibers—polymer optical fibers (POF) and polymer-cladded silica (PCS) fibers have to be taken into account. Moreover, even different physical layers like optical wireless and visible light communication can be a solution.