SC208 Optical Fiber Design for Telecommunications and Specialty Applications

Monday, March 22, 2010
9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
David J. DiGiovanni; OFS Labs, USA
Level: Advanced Beginner (basic understanding of topic is necessary to follow course material)


Course Description

Optical fiber design remains a robust field for innovation in both telecom and nontelecom applications. As worldwide bandwidth demand continues to grow, new fiber types and fiber-based components can increase speed, reduce cost and improve the bandwidth of communications networks. In addition, application-specific fiber can enable or benefit a wide array of functions such as simply transporting light between two points, amplifying light, processing signals, sensing environmental characteristics and even transporting particles. The tools available in adapting fiber to particular uses, whether for high speed communications or other applications, include a range of materials and dopants (glasses, polymers), the mechanics of the fiber (size, coatings, microstructure), waveguiding properties (index profile), and various fiber-based devices such as gratings and amplifiers. These tools have been used to establish an industry that continues to expand as photonics penetrates more and more industries and applications.

This short course will discuss the many ways in which optical fiber design can be used in a wide range of applications and will review an array of current fiber technologies. We will consider the role and capabilities of materials, structures and waveguide design for both fiber and fiber-based photonic components. The focus will be on understanding the capabilities of fiber design and engineering with the goal of demonstrating the many opportunities available with novel optical fibers. Specific attention will be on the impact of transmission fiber design and properties for high-speed optical communication such as >40Gb/s transmission and coherent detection; designs for optical amplification and dispersion compensation; and the design of waveguides to produce effects such as enhanced nonlinearity and bandgap operation.


Benefits and Learning Objectives

This course should enable you to:

  • Understand how certain fiber attributes, like attenuation, modal area and dispersion can impact current and next-generation high speed communications technologies.
  • Describe the wide array of optical fibers available and discuss how their designs have been engineered for particular applications.
  • Compare the benefits of different materials in fiber design, including different glass dopants.
  • Design simple fibers for various applications, such as amplifiers, dispersion compensators, sensors and component pigtails.
  • Determine whether particular applications can benefit from modified or novel optical fiber.
  • Understand the potential offered by fiber engineering which may be exploited to improve existing applications or create new functions.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for the technical community seeking to understand the potential of optical fiber and waveguide design. Basic understanding of optical fiber properties is desirable though not required.


Biography

D. J. DiGiovanni received several engineering and mathematics degrees from Brown University, including a PhD in 1987. He joined Bell Laboratories in the Optical Fiber Research department in 1990 and has worked on various phenomena related to optical fibers for erbium-doped amplifiers, high power amplifiers and lasers and Raman amplification. He has co-authored numerous journal articles and book chapters and has received more than 50 patents for his work. He is now director of OFS Laboratories and continues to explore designs and applications of novel fibers.