UNIT 1:
Overview of Optical Fiber Communications (OFC): Motivation, optical spectral bands, key elements of optical fiber systems.
Optical fibers: basic optical laws and definitions, optical fiber modes and configurations, mode theory for circular waveguides, single mode fibers, graded-index fiber structure, fiber materials, photonic crystal fibers, fiber fabrication, fiber optic cables.

UNIT 2:
Optical sources: Light emitting diodes (LED): structures, materials, quantum efficiency, LED power, modulation of an LED. Laser diodes: modes, threshold conditions, laser diode rate equations, external quantum efficiency, resonant frequencies, structure and radiation patterns, single mode lasers, modulation of laser diodes.
Power launching and coupling: source to fiber power launching, fiber to fiber joints, LED coupling to single mode fibers, fiber splicing, optical fiber connectors.

UNIT 3:
Photo detectors: pin photo detector, avalanche photodiodes, photo detector noise, detector response time, avalanche multiplication noise.
Signal degradation in optical fibers: Attenuation: units, absorption, scattering losses, bending losses, core and cladding losses. Signal distortion in fibers: overview of distortion origins, modal delay, factors contributing to delay, group delay, material dispersion, waveguide dispersion, polarization-mode dispersion. Characteristics of single mode fibers: refractive index profiles, cutoff wavelength, dispersion calculations, mode field diameter, bending loss calculation. Specialty fibers.

UNIT 4:
Optical receivers: fundamental receiver operation, digital receiver performance, eye diagrams, coherent detection: homodyne and heterodyne, burst mode receiver, analog receivers.
Digital links: point to point links, link power budget, rise time budget, power penalties.
Analog links: overview of analog links, carrier to noise ratio, multi channel transmission techniques.

UNIT 5:
Optical technologies
Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) concepts: operational principles of WDM, passive optical star coupler, isolators, circulators, active optical components: MEMS technology, variable optical attenuators, tunable optical filters, dynamic gain equalizers, polarization controller, chromatic dispersion compensators.
Optical amplifiers: basic applications and types of optical amplifiers, Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA): amplification mechanism, architecture, power conversion efficiency and gain. Amplifier noise, optical SNR, system applications.
Performance Measurement and monitoring: measurement standards, basic test equipment, optical power measurements, optical fiber characterization, eye diagram tests, optical time-domain reflectometer, optical performance monitoring.