Optical Transceivers

Since the development of the first semiconductor laser in the 1960s, much R&D effort has been concentrated on designing and developing optical transceivers (TRxs) for reliable optical data transmission. In short, an optical TRx is tasked with converting electrical signals to optical signals (E/O conversion) at its input and with converting optical signals to electrical signals (O/E conversion) at its output. In this chapter, the operating principles of the main opto-electronic components comprising an optical TRx, namely, the laser, the modulator, and the photodetector, are studied. In addition, modern aspects on integrated photonics are discussed, due to the significant growth and importance of these technologies in recent years. The chapter aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the aforementioned topics, focusing on technologies that are currently being deployed or soon-to-be deployed in modern optical networks and transmission systems.