The continuing growth in demand for bandwidth (from residential and business users), necessitates significant research into new advanced technologies that will be employed in future broadband communication systems. Two specific technologies which are becoming increasingly important for future photonic systems are wavelength tunable lasers and optical frequency combs. Although these topics have been studied for over two decades their significance for the development of future ultra-high capacity photonic systems has only recently been fully understood. Wavelength tunable lasers are currently becoming the norm in optical communication systems because of their flexibility and ability to work on any wavelength. However, as their operating principles are different to standard single mode lasers they can effect how future systems will operate. For example as optical transmission systems move towards more coherent transmission (where the data is carried using both the intensity and phase of the optical carrier), the phase noise in these tunable lasers will become increasingly important. Optical frequency combs also have many applications for future photonics systems, and for telecommunications they can be used to obtain the highest spectral efficiency in optical transmission systems by employing the technology of optical frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) that has been widely employed to increase spectral efficiency in wireless systems. Wavelength tunable lasers and optical frequency combs are thus topics at the leading edge of current photonics systems research, and their detailed understanding promises new applications in all-optical signal processing, optical sensing and metrology, and specifically telecommunications. This talk will focus on the development and characterization of various wavelength tunable lasers and optical frequency combs, and then outline how these sources can be employed for developing optical transmission systems and networks which make the best use of available optical spectrum.

Speaker(s): Prof. Liam Barry,

Location:
Room: Room MC603
Bldg: McConnell Engineering Building
3480 University Street
Montreal, Quebec
H3A0E9