Receivers for Fiber Optic Communications 

Instructor: Dr. John Cartledge, Queen's University

Course Content

Receiver structure and function 

• p-i-n photodiodes

• structure
• quantum efficiency
• shot noise
• bandwidth
• SNR 

Avalanche photodiodes (APD)

• structure
• gain
• excess noise factor
• shot noise
• bandwidth
• SNR 

System performance

• pseudo-random bit sequence
• eye patterns
• bit error ratio
• receiver sensitivity
• Q-factor
• noise power
• p-i-n versus APD
• examples of receiver performance
  

Optically pre-amplified receivers

• erbium doped fiber amplifiers
• semiconductor optical amplifiers
• Raman amplifiers
• gain and noise figure
• noise power
• examples of receiver performance
  

Introduction to transmission impairments

• attenuation
• group velocity dispersion
• polarization mode dispersion
• self- and cross-phase modulation
• four-wave mixing
• stimulated Raman scattering
• stimulated Brillouin scattering
• examples of system performance