Optical Communications Tutorial 2
Murali KS
August 2024
1. The LED has a recombination rate of electron-hole pairs R given by:
R = An + Bn2 + Cn3
where:
• A = 1 × 107 s−1 (non-radiative recombination coefficient),
• B = 1 × 10−10 cm3 /s (radiative recombination coefficient),
• C = 1 × 10−29 cm6 /s (Auger recombination coefficient),
• n is the carrier concentration in cm−3 .
The carrier concentration n in the active region of the LED is 5×1018 cm−3 .
(a) Calculate the total recombination rate Rtotal for the given car-
rier concentration.
(b) Determine the internal quantum efficiency ηint of the LED.
2. In the previous question, if the LED emits peak wavelength of 1310nm and
the drive current is 40mA, what is the internal optical power generated.
3. In the previous question, if the refractive index of the LED material is 3.5,
what is the emitted optical power from the device?
4. In the previous question, if the LED is now immersed in alcohol of refrac-
tive index 1.36, what is the emitted optical power from the device?
5. An edge-emitting laser diode has the following parameters:
• Internal Quantum Efficiency (ηint ): 75%
• Drive Current (Id ): 100 mA
• Electron Charge (e): 1.6 × 10−19 C
• Wavelength is 1310 nm
(a) Calculate the rate of electron-hole pairs recombining in the active
region of the laser.
(b) Determine the rate of photons generated internally in the laser.
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(c) Calculate the internal optical power generated by the laser diode.
6. An LED with a peak wavelength of 850 nm driven by a current of 50mA
used as a light source in an optical communication system. The LED has
a Gaussian spectral profile with a full width at half maximum (FWHM)
of 40 nm. The non-radiative recombination time is 3 times the radiative
recombination time. The LED emits light into free space. This LED is
coupled into a step-index multimode fiber with a coupling efficiency of 45
percent. Calculate the amount of power coupled into the fiber. If the fiber
has an attenuation of 3 dB/km at the operating wavelength of the LED,
calculate the power received after the light travels through 2 km of the
fiber.
7. In the previous question, assume the fiber has a wavelength-dependent
refractive index described by the empirical equation:
B
n(λ) = A +
λ2 −C
where:
• A = 1.45
• B = 0.25
• C = 0.01 µm2
(a) Calculate the refractive index of the core material for the LED’s
wavelength.
(b) Determine the group velocity dispersion (GVD) parameter
D at that wavelength. The GVD parameter D is given by:
2πc d2 n
D=− ·
λ2 dλ2
where c is the speed of light in vacuum (c ≈ 3 × 108 m/s).
(c) Compute the total material dispersion for the given spectral
width and fiber length.
8. An LED used in an optical communication system emits light with a peak
wavelength of 1310 nm. The LED has a carrier lifetime of τc = 2.5ns.
What is its optical and electrical bandwidth?
9. A particular LED has a 5−ns injected carrier life time. When no modula-
tion current is applied, the output optical power is 0.250mW for a specified
dc bias. What is the output optical power for modulation frequency of a)
10 MHz and b) 100MHz
10. An LED has an internal quantum efficiency of 70%. Assume the radiative
recombination lifetime 1ns. What is the optical and electrical bandwidth
of the LED?
