The study course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of optoelectronics and optical communications. Topics cover waveguide optics, nanophotonics, metamaterials, holography, nature of light and its properties, general concepts of optical information processing and transmission, laser technology and nonlinear optics, atmospheric laser communications, FOTS information multiplexing in WDM, OTDM, SDM optical fibre transmission systems and computer simulations.
Course contents:
- General concepts of optical information processing and transmission. Physical foundations of optoelectronics and optics.
- Nature of light and its properties. Photonic theory of light and wave theory of light.
- Maxwell’s equations in isotropic medium. Poynting’s theorem. Intensity of light. Photometry.
- Polarization of light. Jones vectors and matrices. Stokes parameters, Stokes vectors. Poincare sphere. Mueller matrices.
- Refraction of light. Attenuation and absorption of light in the matter. Dispersion of light in the matter.
- Reflection of light. Fresnel formulas, amplitudes, phases of reflected and transmitted waves. Total internal reflection.
- Propagation of light in anisotropic insulators. Electro-optic modulators and deflectors of light. Isolators.
- Interference of light as the manifestation of the correlation of stochastic light vibrations. Interference in thin films.
- Resolving power of optical instruments. Super-resolution. Acousto-optical modulators and deflectors.
- Classification of optical waveguides. Optical fibres as cylindrical optical waveguides. Optical fibre sensors.
- Notion of nanophotonics. Photonic crystals. Photonic crystal fibres and microstructured fibres.
- Metamaterials with a negative refractive index.
- Optical image and the phase problem in optics. Holographic recording and readout methods of Gabor, Leith – Upatnieks.
- Hologram types, properties and parameters.
- Spontaneous, stimulated and relaxational quantum transitions.
- Optical feedback. Resonators. Continuous wave (CW) and pulsed operation of lasers. Types of lasers and their comparison.
- Stationary and non-stationary, coherent and incoherent nonlinear optical processes. Nonlinear polarization of matter.
- Harmonic and parametric generation of light. Photorefraction and self-focusing.
- Stimulated (Raman and Mandelstam-Brillouin) light scattering.
- Solitons in optical fibre communication systems.
- Mechanisms of laser damage of matter.
- Information multiplexing in WDMA, TDMA and CDMA optical fibre transmission systems.
- Computer simulations in studies of optical fibre transmission systems.
