Topical Outline

Introductory Review
Electromagnetic wave equations
Plane wave reflection and transmission
Effects of material resonances on wave propagation
Group velocity dispersion

Wave Propagation in Dielectric Slab Guides}

Solution of the wave equation
Guided modes and cutoff conditions
Wave and ray pictures
Leaky and radiation modes
Propagation in curved guides
Field Theory of Step Index Fibers
Ray classification and analysis
Solution of the wave equation for multimode fibers
Field descriptions and mode classification
Single mode fibers
Single mode fiber measurements

Losses

Fabrication issues
Intrinsic and extrinsic loss mechanisms
Bending losses
Coupling losses
Loss measurements
Systems implications

Dispersion

Effects of dispersion on pulse propagation
Material, waveguide, and profile dispersion
Group delay distortion in multimode fibers
Cubic dispersion
Dispersion measurement and fiber bandwidth
Polarization mode dispersion
Systems implications
Dispersion mapping
Dispersion equalization techniques

Special Purpose Index Profiles

Multimode graded index fibers
Single mode graded index fibers
Dispersion shifting and flattening in single mode fiber
Polarization-maintaining fiber
Equivalent index profiles for curved guides

Fiber Amplifiers

The amplification principle
Material systems for fiber amplifiers
Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers
Multi-wavelength operation
Gain flattening
Pulse interaction
Black box models

Nonlinear Effects

Nonlinear optical concepts
Self- and cross-phase modulation, soliton propagation
Stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering
Four-wave mixing
Importance of nonlinear effects in communication systems.