Instructor: Vasily N. Astratov
Office: Burson 141 (lab, Burson 162)
Phone: 704-687-4513
E-mail: astratov@uncc.edu
Webpage: http://www.physics.uncc.edu/PhysStaff/Astratov/Astratov.htm
Office hours: Wednesdays 11:00 – 12.30 pm
Prerequisite: Admission to the Optics M.S. program.
Subjects covered: principles of lasers, semiconductor lasers and light emitting diodes, optical detection and detectors, modulation and deflection of optical beams
Text: Elements of Optoelectronics and Fiber Optics by Chin-Lin Chen, Irwin, 1996
Additional:
Grading: homeworks: 30%, mid-term: 25%, final: 25%, presentation: 20%;
A ³ 90; 80 £ B £ 89; 70 £ C £ 79; U < 70
Class attendance: Attendance of all lectures, exams and presentation session is expected. If you have to miss an exam because of illness or other circumstances beyond your control please notify the instructor in advance. Only in this case you may be given a make-up test. This can be made only once. There is no make-up for a missed presentation.
Academic integrity: Students have the responsibility to know and observe the requirements of The UNC Charlotte Code of Student Academic Integrity. The standards of academic integrity will be enforced in this course. The code forbids cheating, fabrication or falsification of information, multiple submission of academic work, plagiarism, abuse of academic materials, and complicity in academic dishonesty. You may work with study partners and discuss the subject matter with them. However, each student is individually responsible for his/her tests, papers, and reports. The UNC Charlotte Code of Student Academic Integrity is published in the current University Catalog. The code is also available at www.uncc.edu/unccatty/policystate/ps-104.html
Motivation: Sources and detectors of light are important components of practically any optical system. With the invention of lasers and semiconductor heterostructures in 1960-65, and the realization of low-loss optical fibers in 1970, the entire area of photonic and optoelectronics devices has experienced a mighty boost resulting in creating modern information technology and Internet. This development has been accompanied with many breakthroughs in physics and technology of light sources and detectors. The examples include development of systems with quantum size quantization (quantum wells, wires and dots), distributed feedback and VCSEL lasers and other structures and devices. By understanding and engineering the materials and structures used for generating and detecting light one can achieve ultimate goals of modern photonics and optoelectronics - integration of electronics and optics at a level where new physical phenomena are observed, and new functionality is created - functionality not possible with electrons or electromagnetic waves separated. The description of topics to be studied is given below.
Course Outline (depth and coverage scope of various topics may vary)
1. Principles of Lasers (ch 3)
The nature of light, blackbody radiation, photons, quantized energy levels, emission and absorption of light, optical amplifiers, optical resonators, lasers, continuum and pulsed lasers, selected gaseous and solid-state systems
2. Semiconductor Lasers and Diodes (ch 4)
Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, light-matter interaction, ternary and quaternary semiconductors, heterostructures, quantum wells, wires and dots, homojunctions and heterojunctions, light emitting diodes, injection lasers, distributed feedback lasers and vertical cavity surface emitting (VCSEL) lasers.
3. Optical Detectors (ch 5)
Thermal detectors and photon detectors, quantum efficiency of semiconductor detectors, photoconductors, photovoltaic detectors, PIN diodes, avalance photodiodes, noise and noise equivalent power.
4. Modulators and Deflectors (ch 6)
State of polarization, acoustooptic, electrooptic and magnetooptic effects, Faraday rotation and magnetooptic modulators, index ellipsoid, linear electrooptic effect, electrooptic modulators, acoustooptic modulators and deflectors, Raman-Nath and Bragg diffraction.
5. Photonic Crystals and Microresonators
Wave propagation in periodic systems, 1D/2D/3D crystal examples, photonic band gap, control of emission, dielectric microspheres and their optical properties.
Presentation topics (other topics are possible, but need to be approved by the instructor)
1. Types of gas and solid-state lasers and comparison
2. Tunable dye and solid-state lasers and comparison
3. Semiconductor diode lasers and comparison
4. Problem of light extraction efficiency in LEDs
5. Edge-emitting and distributed feedback lasers
6. Quantum well, wire and dot lasers, separate electronic and optical confinement
7. VCSEL’s structure and properties
8. Tunable semiconductor lasers and mode locking
9. Semiconductor photoconductive detectors
10. PIN photodiodes
11. Avalanche photodiode
12. Physics and applications of CCD array devices
13. Electrooptic modulators
14. Acoustooptic modulators and deflectors
15. Optical modulators and isolators based on Faraday effect
16. Photonic crystals, complete photonic band gap and control of emission
17. Technologies of fabrication of photonic crystals and comparison
18. Opals and inverted opals
19. Superprism effect in photonic crystals
20. Photonic crystal fibers
21. Dielectric microresonators, Fabri-Perot cavities and coupled microcavities
22. Coupled resonator optical waveguides
23. Fluorescence properties of dielectric microspheres, whispering-gallery modes
24. Optical tweezers
25. Optical waveguide couplers and splitters
26. Integrated Mach-Zhender interferometer and applications
27. Fiber optics sensors
28. Second harmonic generation
29. Stimulated Raman scattering
30. Stimulated Brillouin scattering