Abstract
This chapter describes the electronic devices, light sources and detectors. Most light sources and detectors are electronic devices built from the same semiconductor materials that are used in transistors and integrated circuits. The chapter is restricted to the characteristics of these devices. A major portion of the chapter is dedicated to characteristics of lasers. The most common form of laser diode is called an injection laser diode (ILD) or injection diode (ID). The word injection refers to part of the process occurring inside the semiconductor material. A laser provides a light of fixed wavelength which can be in the visible region around 635 nm or in any one of the three infrared windows. The light has a very narrow bandwidth, only a few nanometers wide. This ensures that chromatic dispersion is kept to a low value and this, together with fast switching, allows high data transmission rates. As the laser device itself is barely visible to the unaided eye, it must be contained in some form of package. Two typical examples of lasers are shown by a diagram in the chapter.
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