Description: Overview of the basic technologies and system design principles for modern optical communications. Component fundamentals, including optical fiber, lasers, transmitters, photodetectors, receivers, passive components, optical amplifiers. Optical modulation, demodulation, wavelength multiplexing techniques. Applications to wide-area and access networks, microwave photonics. System impairments related to noise, fiber dispersion, nonlinearity. Students work in groups to design a national-scale broadband system, combining primary course elements and commercial software.

Restrictions: Credit will be granted for only one of 526, 623.