This course is offered each Fall semester by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Aarhus University, as part of its comprehensive Photonics Teaching Program.
This course aims to provide students with a deep understanding of the fundamental principles and practical applications of photonic devices. It covers topics such as light-matter interaction, laser technology, semiconductor optical amplifiers, and more. Students will engage in design studies, hands-on exercises, and lab demonstrations, enhancing practical skills and theoretical knowledge. This course is ideal for those looking to innovate in telecommunications, sensing, and other high-tech industries.
By the end of this course, participants will:
This course offers a comprehensive dive into cutting-edge photonic technologies, covering:
The course combines lectures, exercises, and lab demos, culminating in a design study for the final evaluation.
ECTS credits: 10
Course coordinator: Nicolas Volet
Program requirement: Active participation is mandatory.
Prerequisites: Prior knowledge of electromagnetism and optics.
Course assessment: Evaluation will be based on an oral exam and a written report, centered on a design study you will develop, incorporating one or more photonic devices. Grading will follow the seven-point scale and will include an internal co-examiner.
During the Fall semester: August – December, 2024.
Sept. 23 + 26
Growth. Lattice matching. Dislocations and quantum dots.
Dangling bonds and passivation.
Band structure.
Wafer fusion and heterogeneous integration.
Radiative recombination. Auger process. Phonons.
*to update*Sept. 25 (Monday): feedback on abstracts
Sept. 30 + Oct. 3
Infrared C-band:
scattering, attenuation and dispersion
Mid-infrared lasers:
quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) or difference-frequency generation (DFG)
HiTran database.
Deep-UV photonics:
Lasers, fibers and detectors
Nonlinear crystals and lithography
*to update*🍕––> Oct. 5 (Thursday) at 12:00:
Pizzas and guest lecture from Peter Tønning, Senior System Engineer at UV Medico
*to update*Oct. 13 (Friday): R-Day starting at 13:00 at 5122-122
The R-day event is an open forum for engagement and discussions among researchers and students within ECE. It aims at creating awareness and promoting research activities.
8. Semiconductor optical amplifiers (Oct. 21 + 24)
Transverse confinement factor. Net gain and saturation.
Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). Small-signal gain factor.
9. Laser performance (Oct. 28 + 31)
Condition for lasing threshold. Gain clamping.
Rate equations for the carrier and the photon densities.
Output power versus current.
10. Dynamics (Nov. 4 + 7)
Turn-on delay.
Small-signal modulation.
Wavelength chirp.
*to update*––> Nov. 8 (Wednesday): deadline to submit individual abstracts
*to update*Thursday (Nov. 9): Feedback on abstracts + exam preparation
11. Reflectors (Nov. 11 + 14)
Thin films and anti-reflective (AR) coatings.
Distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs).
Corrugated waveguides.
Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs).
Fabry-Perot interferometer and etalon.
Wavelength stabilization.
12. Narrow-linewidth lasers (Nov. 18 + 21)
Intrinsic linewidth and coherence length.
Fiber lasers.
Optical feedback.
External-cavity diode lasers (ECDLs).
*to update*––> Nov. 20 (Monday) at 10:15:
Guest lecture from Asger Sellerup Jensen, Senior Market Development Manager & Head of Quantum at NKT Photonics
Video: MPG
13. Pulses and incoherence (Nov. 25 + 28)
Speckle effect.
SLEDs: superluminescent light-emitting diodes.
Optical gyroscopes.
Isolators and circulators.
Stabilization loop: Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) method.
*to update*––> Nov. 30 (Thursday): deadline to submit intermediate individual reports
14. Phase modulation (Dec. 2 + 5)
Modulators. Side-band generation.
*to update*––> Dec. 7 (Thursday): individual presentations (rehearsal)
*to update*––> Dec. 17 (Sunday): deadline to submit final individual reports
Extra topics
Modulation formats. Coherent communications.
Q-switching.
SESAMs: Semiconductor saturable absorber mirror.
Photodetectors.
Solar cells to ultrafast coherent receivers.
Mid-infrared detectors to solar-blind UV sensors.
Brillouin effect and distributed optical sensing.
Raman spectroscopy.
For numerical simulations of modes in waveguides, we will use the software EMode Photonix.
Information on how to get started can be found here.
Evaluation will be based on an oral exam and a written report, centered on a design study you will develop, incorporating one or more photonic devices.
November TBC (Wednesday): deadline to submit your abstract (100 words)
November TBC (Thursday): deadline to submit your intermediate report (5 pages)
December TBC (Sunday): deadline to submit your final report (5 pages)
December TBC (Thursday): individual presentations (rehearsal)
For those that would like to attend the exam, please send your abstract and report to Nicolas Volet by email before the above deadlines.
The exam is oral, and the duration is 20 min.
We ask you to prepare a presentation for 10 min, leaving 10 min for questions.
LaTeX files (for booklets and exercises) are available at this Overleaf project.
Slides and other files are available at this SharePoint site.
