Introduction

Optoelectronics is an area of physics and engineering that deals with devices and systems, which are based on the interaction of light with matter. While this area only began to grow rapidly after the discovery of the laser, optoelectronics is not equivalent to laser physics.  As we shall see during this course, there is more to optoelectronics than meets the eye (pun intended).  Optoelectronics is often linked with fibre optic communications, the technology that is revolutionising telecommunications at a breathtaking rate. But optoelectronics is also the driving force for a range of new technologies in a wide spectrum of fields, from medicine to remote sensing, from material science to optical computing. 

In this course we shall review four basic areas of optoelectronics:

While these topics do not cover all the subjects generally associated with optoelectronics, they do cover major areas presently identified with this field.

This is an introductory level course.  It does not aim to examine all aspects of every topic, nor does it deal with the topics in great theoretical detail.  Instead, we shall emphasise the basic principles underlying each area, and aim to highlight the important concepts and devices in the given area.

Assumed knowledge

Optoelectronics relies on a number of disciplines, most importantly optics and solid-state (semiconductor) physics. It is expected that students enrolled in this course have some understanding of these areas.  However, where necessary, we shall either provide a short review of the required material or refer you to the appropriate reading material.

Course contents

About the course

Week 1 introduces you to the physics underpinning fibre optics. We shall define the various terms, discuss the history of fibre optics and review parts of electro-magnetic theory that is necessary to understand optical wave-guiding.

Week 2 we shall give details of various optical fibres, fibre materials and the manufacture of optical fibres. 

Week 3 deals with attenuation in optical fibres. We shall discuss the causes of attenuation in optical fibres, and talk about ways to reduce the overall losses in optical fibres.

Week 4 discusses dispersion in optical fibres.  In addition to attenuation, it is dispersion that determines the key characteristics of communications grade optical fibres.

Week 5 reviews the current trends in optical communication systems, including wavelength division multiplexing and related issues.

Week 6 deals with fibre optic sensors.  Based on our understanding of optical fibres from the previous lectures, in this week we shall discuss a number of active and passive fibre optic sensors and sensor applications.

Week 7 is the beginning of our journey into semiconductor physics and optoelectronic devices.  We shall review the fundamentals of the band theory of solids; it is essential to understand this in order to grasp the workings of optoelectronic devices.

Week 8 deals with the optical properties of semiconductors.  We shall discuss in some detail the properties of various optoelectronics materials and junctions

Week 9 deals with the details of various types of semiconductor light emitting devices, including various laser diodes types

Week 10 gets into the details of various types of light detectors, and looks at the question of the figures of merit and sources of noise in detectors

Week 11 describes the electro-optic and acousto-optic effects that underlie some of the key light modulators and switches that are in use today, and other non-linear effects.

Week 12 student seminars.

Textbook

The field of optoelectronics is changing so rapidly that it is difficult to find one complete textbook.  Some of the topics that were essential a few years ago are today 'ancient history', while techniques or materials that are important today are not covered even in books published very recently.  Having said that, a practical and enjoyable textbook that covers many of the topics that we shall discuss is:

S.O. Kasap: Optoelectronics and Photonics, Principles and Practices (Prentice Hall, Isbn 0-201-61087-6).

A good reference book (not textbook) is: Optoelectronics, An Introduction (3^rd edition) by J. Wilson and j.f.b. Hawkes (Prentice Hall, Isbn/Issn: 013103961x)

A helpful general introduction to the section on optical fibres is Understanding Fiber Optics by J. Hecht (Prentice Hall, 1999 ISBN 0-13-956145-5)

Tutorials

Throughout the course we shall solve several example problems in class.  These exercises aim to help you understand specific topics and provide you with an order of magnitude estimates for the magnitude of various phenomena.

Your assessment tasks

There are two assignments, a mid-session test and a final exam for this course. The dates and percentages for each assessment task are given in the table below:

Assignment 1*	Week 12	12.5%
Assignment 2**	Week 12	12.5%
Mid-session test***	Tba	40%
Exam****	Tba	35%

 

 

 

 

* Assignment 1: in class present a 15-20 minutes long seminar on your research topic.  The topic of your research will be chosen jointly with your lecturer

** Assignment2: write a research paper on your research project. (The paper has to be submitted on or before the last day of session.  No late assignments will be accepted.)

***Mid-session test: One-hour test on a date specified by the University

****Exam: Two-hour exam on a date specified by the University

About the author

The Optoelectronics course is being taught by Professor Mike Gal. Mike is Professor of Physics and coordinator of the Optoelectronics and Photonics programs at the School of Physics of the University of New South Wales. In his 25 years as an academic, he has worked at several universities in Europe and the USA, and was consultant to numerous industrial and research organizations. His research interest is in semiconductor optics and solid-state physics.  He is author of a book, over 150 research publications and a number of patents.

Learning outcomes

When you have completed this course, you should be able to:

In addition, in this course you will