Santa Clara University

Recent Advances in Photonic Devices for RF/Wireless Communication Applications

Paul K. L. Yu,

University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0407,

Tel: 858 534 6180, email: yu@ece.ucsd.edu

Abstract:This presentation gives an overview of the requirements of the photonic components in their insertion in applications such as CATV, antenna remoting and base station connections in wireless communication systems. While the driving force for their use is bandwidth, the eventual limiting factors would be cost and reliability. The presentation reviews the advances in the state-of-the-art photonics devices for analog links such as laser diodes, high power lasers, external modulators, semiconductor amplifiers, erbium doped fiber amplifier, and photodetectors. Comparisons will also be made regarding the direct modulation scheme versus the external modulation scheme. Research frontiers in external optical modulators will be described.

Biography:Dr. Paul K. Yu is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). At UCSD he is teaching courses in fiber-optics and optoelectronics as well as conducting research on semiconductor materials and devices for various photonics and microwave applications. His research interests include: lasers in the near infrared wavelength region for optical communication and optical interconnection; optical/RF scheme for narrow-band, high center frequency microwave transmission; high speed, high power optical detectors and high speed waveguide modulator devices for both digital and analog modulation; high power semiconductor optical switches for microwave generation; and electronic analog-to-digital conversion using high speed optical switches. He is one of the founding members of the IEEE AP/ED/MTT Chapter of San Diego, and had served as IEEE EDS AdCom member. He is presently the Vice President of the Education Activities of IEEE EDS and an editor of IEEE Electron Devices Letters in the area of optoelectronics. He is a Senior member of IEEE and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America.