Optical electronics

The development of an optical diode consisting of a metal-dielectric-metal junction in which the high-speed electric conduction process occurs due to quantum mechanical electron tunneling across the dielectric barrier is briefly reviewed. Potential applications of the diode are discussed

Optical electronics for meteor observations

Spectral observations of meteors have been carried out for several years using an optical electronics facility. Interest has centered on faint meteors and their trails in the period of intensive meteor showers. Over 800 meteors were registered during the observation period, with spectrograms obtained for 170 of these. A total of 86 meteors were photographed from two sites and for 25 of these spectrograms of the meteors as well as their trails were obtained. All meteors have undergone routine processing in order to determine atmospheric characteristics. Results are discussed

Optical Electronics

The five years that have intervened since the appearance of the third edition of OPTICAL ELECTRONICS witnessed significant technical developments in the field and the emergence of some major trends. A few of the important developments are 1. Optical fiber communication has established itself as the key communication technology. 2. The semiconductor laser and especially the longer wavelength GaInAsP/InP version has emerged as the main light source for high-data-rate optical fiber communication systems. 3. Quantum well semiconductor lasers started replacing their conventional counterparts for high-data-rate long distance communication and most other sophisticated applications including ultra-low threshold and mode- locked lasers. 4. Optical fiber amplifiers are causing a minor revolution in fiber communication due to their impact on very long distance transmission and on large scale optical distribution systems. The accumulated weight of the new developments was such that when I last taught the course at Caltech in 1989 I found myself using a substantial fraction of course material that was not included in the text. The fourth edition brings this material into the fold. The main additions to the third edition, include major revisions and new chapters dealing with 1. Jones calculus and its extension to Faraday effect elements. 2. Radiometry and infrared detection. 3. Optical fiber amplifiers and their impact on fiber communication links. 4. Laser arrays. 5. Distributed feedback lasers, including multi-element lasers with phase shift sections. 6. Quantum well and ultra-low threshold semiconductor lasers. 7. Photorefractive crystals and two-beam coupling in dynamic holography and image processing. 8. Two-beam coupling and phase conjugation in stimulated Brillouin scattering. 9. Intensity fluctuations and coherence in semiconductor lasers and their impact on fiber communication systems. The book continues to be aimed at the student interested in learning how to generate and manipulate optical radiation and how to use it to transmit information. At Caltech the course is taken, almost in equal proportions, by electrical engineering, physics, and applied physics students. About half the students tend to be seniors and the rest graduate students. The prerequisites for taking the course at Caltech are a sound undergraduate background in electromagnetic theory—usually a one year course in this area—and an introduction to atomic physics. The hands-on and research flavor of the book owes greatly to the exciting mix of visitors, talented students, and postdocs who bombard me continually with their newest findings and thoughts

Performance of electronic dispersion compensator for 10Gb/s multimode fiber links

In high-speed optical links, electronic compensation circuits can be utilized to greatly improve the data transmission performance limited by fiber dispersion. In this paper, we develop a full link model, including multimode fibers, optical/electronics/optical components, clock-and-data recovery and electronic compensation circuits. The performance of various electronic compensation techniques, such as feed-forward equalizer and decision feedback equalizer for optical multimode fiber is investigated and numerically evaluated. Finally, a comparison of the performance of each compensation techniques and a proposal of optimal equalizer circuit implementation, achieving a 10-Gb/s transmission over 1-km standard multimode fiber are presented

Semiannual progress report no. 1, 16 November 1964 - 30 June 1965

Summary reports of research in bioelectronics, electron streams and interactions, plasmas, quantum and optical electronics, radiation and propagation, and solid-state electronic

Generation of microwave radiation by nonlinear interaction of a high-power, high-repetition rate, 1064-nm laser in KTP crystals

We report measurements of microwave (RF) generation in the centimeter band accomplished by irradiating a nonlinear KTiOPO$_4$ (KTP) crystal with a home-made, infrared laser at $1064\,$nm as a result of optical rectification (OR). The laser delivers pulse trains of duration up to $1\,\mu$s. Each train consists of several high-intensity pulses at an adjustable repetition rate of approximately $4.6\,$GHz. The duration of the generated RF pulses is determined by that of the pulse trains. We have investigated both microwave- and second harmonic (SHG) generation as a function of the laser intensity and of the orientation of the laser polarization with respect to the crystallographic axes of KTP.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Optics Letters, vol. 38 (2013

Optimal Design and Reduced Threshold in Vertically Emitting Circular Bragg Disk Resonator Lasers

We derive a comprehensive coupled-mode theory, including resonant vertical emission effects, for the analysis of nonperiodic circular Bragg lasers. We derive the governing characteristic equation for such lasers, yielding the threshold gain level and the resonance frequency. By reducing the threshold gain and maximizing the ratio of “useful signal” to the power leakage, we find optimum conditions for vertically emitting circular Bragg microdisk lasers which indicate that low-threshold operation is possible