Design of Ultra High Speed Optical Transmission Systems

Student: Ting Fang Lim

Supervisor: Aleksandar Rakic

Category: Engineering Thesis Project - Communications

Driven by the sudden increase in voice and data transmission requirements and by the need for faster, flexible, more reliable, and cost-effective systems, early communications networks have transformed themselves from networks of copper wire cabling and electronics to networks based primarily on fiber optic cabling and optical components. A cornerstone of this revolution is the semiconductor laser, the component that literally sheds light on the entire industry. The edge emitting lasers enabled the first wave of optical networking. The next wave that employs a new laser technology that will substantially reduces costs and improves performance is the Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL). VCSEL based optical approaches are currently widely investigated to alleviate data communication bottlenecks at different levels of the information highway and computer interconnection hierarchy.

Currently, most of the VCSEL-based products use short (780 - 980 nm) wavelength lasers. However, significant research efforts are taking place at universities and industrial research laboratories around the world to develop reliable, manufacturable and high-power long (1300 - 1550 nm) wavelength VCSELs. These lasers will allow longer (several km) transmission distances and will help alleviate some of the eye-safety issues.

This thesis focuses mainly on the properties of 850nm VCSELs and their applications for short haul optical communications. It will look into how VCSELs could provide a better solution for short haul communications networks like LAN with the increasing demand in higher data rates, higher reliability and lower cost. Necessary properties for applications such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Very Short Reach (VSR) are discussed in some detail.

Thesis Document (PDF)

Poster Presentation (PDF)