Understanding Optical Fiber Communications

Starting with the nature of information, it goes on to explain all the ideas behind information measurement, signals, digital coding, modulation, optical transmission along fibers, optical detectors, demodulation, system design, networking and non-linear optics. A final chapter, on more advanced topics, brings you up-to-date with recent developments. This is an ideal introductory-level book for sales and marketing personnel, business managers in telecommunications, technicians and college or university students interested in the ideas behind the telecommunications medium of the future. No more than GCSE physics is required.

Contents

• What Are Telecommunications? The Basic Principles – The Global Village. Elements of Telecommunications. Measurement of Information. Signals. Bandwidth. Analogue and Digital Systems. The Transmitter: Putting Signals on to Carriers. Limits to Bandwidth: Signal Attenuation and Distortion. The Receiver.
• Why Do We Need Optics? – The Quest for Bandwidth. Electromagnetic Waves. Transmission with Electromagnetic Waves.
• What Are Optical Fibers?: Guided Light - What is an Optical Fiber? Interaction of Light with Itself-Wave Interference. Interaction of Light with Glass-Loss and Dispersion. System Implications. Fiber Manufacture and Cabling.
• Preparing the Light – Sources of Modulation. Light Emission Processes. Laser Action. The Semiconductor Laser. Impressing Information on the Light-Optical Modulation.
• Seeing the Light – Photodetection and Demodulation. A Semiconductor Photodetector-the Photodiode. The Avalanche Photodiode. Noise. PINS or APDs? Detection Demodulation.
• System Design – Introduction. Decibels. A Simple Analogue System. A Long-Distance High-Bandwidth Digital System. Trunk Systems. Networks.
• More Advanced Topics – Splitters. Couplers and Switches. Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM). Dispersion Compensation. Polarization-Mode Dispersion (PMD). Non-Linear Optics and Solitons.
• A Look at the Future – What Does the Future Hold in Store.
• Appendices – The Sampling Theorem. Theory of the Laser. Shannon's Theorem. Non-Linear Optics.