Optoelectronic Devices FILS 2015/2016

Project Homeworks
A. General details

There are a total of 15 homeworks.

All homeworks consist in elaborating a research report on the specified subject by using text books,
internet, and any other useful documentation for this purpose.

The list of the project homeworks is given below, including a brief description of the main topics
that should be covered for each homework.

Each homework can be allocated to 1 or 2 students, at your choice.

Each homework can be chosen at maximum thrice.

All homeworks will be submitted electronically via e-mail until Friday of the penultimate week
of the semester.

The final marks will be communicated in the last week of the semester, prior to the final exam.

B. List of project homeworks (with main topics to be covered)

1. Temporal and spatial coherence of photon beams
description of what coherence of light is
definition of temporal and spatial coherence, both qualitatively and quantitatively
2. Light-emitting diodes: technological variants and performances
description of different technological variants of LED structures
LED performances vs. their applications
3. Applications of laser sources
review of the applications of the laser sources in different domains (industry,
medicine, etc.)
4. Double-heterojunction (DH) laser diodes
definition of the DH concept and of heterostructures in general
advantages of DH over conventional homojunction laser diodes
5. Distributed Feed-Back (DFB) and Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) laser diodes
description of the concept of distributed reflector
the structure of DFB and DBR laser diodes
advantages of DFB and DBR laser diodes over conventional Fabry-Perot (FP) laser
diodes
6. Quantum-well (QW) laser diodes
description of the concept of QW- as opposed to bulk-semiconductor
the structure of a QW laser diodes compared with a conventional bulk-semiconductor
laser diode
7. Fiber optic sensors
review of the main types of sensors based on optical fibers
description of the working principle of fiber optic sensors
advantages of fiber optic sensors over conventional sensors
applications of fiber optic sensors

8. Electro-optic light modulators

description of the electro-optic effect
propagation of electromagnetic waves in anisotropic crystals
ordinary and extraordinary waves
examples of temporal and spatial light modulators using electro-optic crystals
9. Elasto-optic light modulators
Bragg-diffraction of light by elastic waves in crystals
the two types of elasto-optic light modulators: with normal and Bragg incidence
examples of spatial light modulators using the interaction with an elastic wave
10. Step-index and graded-index optical fibers
description of the step- and graded-index optical fiber types
comparison between the two types of optical fibers (link with the dispersion
phenomenon)
11. Attenuation of optical fibers
causes of optical attenuation in optical fibers
attenuation spectrum for optical fibers
limitations on optical communication systems due to attenuation on optical fiber and
methods to overcome/reduce them
12. Dispersion of optical fibers
types of dispersion in optical fibers
limitations on optical communication systems due to dispersion on optical fiber and
methods to overcome/reduce them (link with dispersion-shifted optical fibers)
13. PIN photodiodes
structure and working principle of PIN photodiode
performances
14. Avalanche photodiodes
structure and working principle of avalanche photodiode
performances
15. Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Dense-WDM (D-WDM) technologies: an
overview
description of the concept of wavelength multiplexing in optical communication
systems
description of the WDM and D-WDM systems

C. List of references (suggestion)

Homework # for which the
reference is useful

Reference
1. Agrawal, G.P., Lightwave Technology Telecommunication
Systems, Wiley, (2005)

1012, 15

2. Agrawal, G.P., Fiber-Optic Communications Systems, 3rd

ed., Wiley, (2002)

1012, 15

3. Electro-Optics Handbook, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, (2000)

3, 4, 6, 7, 1014

4. Amann, M.-C., Buus, J., Tunable Laser Diodes, Artech

House, (1998)

46

Homework # for which the

reference is useful

Reference
5. Coldren, L.A., Corzine, S.W., Diode Lasers and Photonic
Integrated Circuits, John Wiley & Sons, (1995)
6. Handbook of Optics, Volume 1: Fundamentals, Techniques,
and Design, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, New York, (1995)
7. Handbook of Semiconductor Lasers and Photonic
Integrated Circuits, Chapman & Hall, (1994)
8. Pedrotti, F.L., Introduction to Optics, 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall,
(1993)
9. Banerjee, P.P., Poon, T.C, Principles of Applied Optics,
Irwin, Boston (1991)
10. Hunsperger, R.G., Integrated Optics: Theory and
Technology, 3rd ed., Springer-Verlag, (1991)

46
1, 2, 46, 13
3, 46
1
8, 9, 13, 14
46, 8, 9, 13, 14