Photonics Course Catalogue

Updated for 2012-13

ECE525H  Lasers and Detectors
Professor S. Dmitrevsky
This course focuses on photonic components which generate or absorb light. Lasers: spontaneous and stimulated emission, gain and absorption, gain broadening; modulation dynamics, mode-locking, Q-switching; semiconductor lasers. Photodetectors: absorption, photo-generated currents, noise in detection.ECE525H

ECE527H  Photonic Devices
Professor J. Poon
This course will introduce students to a range of passive photonic components; students will gain an understanding of the fundamentals of how these devices operate and an appreciation of where these components find applications in telecommunications and sensing systems. Topics covered in this course include: interaction of light with matter; Gaussian beams and resonator optics; periodic structures, optical thin films and gratings; photonic band gap materials; waveguides and couplers, birefringent materials and polarization devices. (Prerequisite: ECE318H)

ECE 1435H Applied Optics
Staff
This course is primarily intended for the student who wants to develop a basic competence in each of the many areas of optics he will need to use in courses in physics and engineering. The topics to be covered are Fourier optics, geometrical optics, diffraction theory, lens theory, 3-D displays, display devices, near field optics, holography, tomography, optical signal processing, and waves in special media. It also sometimes includes laboratory sessions in which the students are assigned a hands-on experiment selected from the above topics. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE 1235H.

ECE 1448H  Quantum Mechanics for Engineers
Professor S. Dmitrevsky
This course develops the theoretical background of quantum electronics and electro-optics and their applications to laser theory. The course is intended for engineering students with limited working knowledge of quantum mechanics. Topics include Schroedinger wave equation, quantum wells, hydrogen and multi-electron atoms, angular momentum and electron spin, harmonic oscillators and molecular structure, energy bands of solids, electric dipole moments, perturbation theory, and interaction of light with matter.

ECE1450H  Ultrafast Photonics
Professors P.W.E. Smith and L. Qian
This course develops an in-depth understanding of ultrafast optical fundamentals and device technology. Topics to be covered include: short optical pulse generation; nonlinear optical effects; ultrafast optical phenomena; short optical pulse characterization techniques; pulse compression and temporal shaping; temporal and spatial solitons; and, as time permits, photonic devices and applications. The remainder of the course will be devoted to student presentations of papers on these topics in the current research literature. Students are expected to do substantial reading and study of the material in advance of the class lectures so that class discussions can focus on questions and issues raised by the students.

ECE1460H Special Topics in Photonics: High Intensity Lasers
Professor P.R. Herman
This course examines the underlying physics and practical applications of high intensity laser interactions driven by powerful and ultrashort duration lasers. A more advanced and focused treatment of nonlinear optical interactions together with the novel material responses is emphasized compared with topics in ECE 1450 and ECE 1461. In the first half of the term, students will review, study and prepare lecture materials with close cooperation of the instructor, while in the second half, formal lectures will be delivered by the students. The topics include:
- Mechanisms of nonlinear laser interactions in solids: plasma physics, MPI, ATI (field), Kledysh parameter, impact ionization (avalanche), electron density, rate equations, recombination, pondermotive force, pedestal/prepulse effects, electron-positron pair production, Wakefield particle accelerator. Applications include laser machining, Inertial Confinement Fusion.
- Light generation in solids: SHG, THG, high harmonic generation, Blackbody, Raman and Stokes, photoluminescence, fluorescence, continuum generation, diagnostic signature of interaction physics and material property. Applications include Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, EUV Sources.
- Self focusing and Filamentation in gas, liquid and transparent solids, connection with Continuum Generation in bulk glass/crystals, Continuum Generation in Holey Fiber. Applications include novel light sources.
- Asymmetric interactions underlying the ‘Quill’ effect and formation of nanogratings and birefringence in optical materials, relationship with pulse front tilt and grating compression effects in short pulse lasers: Applications include writing optical circuits, microfluidic and nanofluidic devices.

ECE 1460H Special Topics in Photonics: Introduction to Micro and Nanofabrication
Professor W.T. Ng
An introduction to the fundamentals of micro- and nano-fabrication processes with emphasis on cleanroom practices. The physical principles of optical lithography, electron-beam lithography, alternative nanolithography techniques, and thin film deposition and metrology methods. The physical and chemical processes of wet and dry etching. Cleanroom concepts and safety protocols. Sequential microfabrication processes involved in the manufacture of microelectronic and photonic devices. Imaging and characterization of micro- and nano-structures. Examples of practical existing and emerging micro and nano-devices. Limited enrollment.
Materials Fee: $400. Please arrange for payment of the fee by contacting (416) 946-5610 or ecti@utoronto.ca.

ECE 1461H Advanced Laser Processing
Professor P.R. Herman
This course provides the fundamentals of laser processing and advanced topics in application areas pertinent to photonics, electronics, medical, automotive, aerospace, and general manufacturing industries. Topics include cw to ultrafast laser systems, common approaches to beam delivery systems, and fundamentals of laser interactions with insulators, conductors, dielectrics, plasma, and soft tissues. Photothermal and photochemical processes and heat-flow models are discussed in the context of traditional applications such as welding, cutting, marking, etching and rapid-prototyping. Advanced and emerging application areas are photolithography, corneal sculpturing, refractive-index control in glasses, micromachining, semiconductor annealing, circuit-board processing, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, photonic-components, and surface texturing.

ECE 1463H Fiber Bragg Gratings
Professor P.R. Herman
Fiber Bragg gratings constitute key components in today’s optical communication networks, serving as high-Q notch filters, laser mirrors, dispersion compensators, add/drop multiplexers, couplers, and sensors. This course examines both practical and theoretical aspects of these basic devices. Topics include photosensitivity responses of transparent glasses, colour centre verses compaction models of refractive-index change, ultraviolet and ultrafast laser sources, fabrication techniques, fiber-grating theory, apodization, filters, chirping, fiber lasers/amplifers, and grating characterization. The practical application of fiber Bragg gratings in optical communications systems, sensors, and optical diagnostic apparatus will be surveyed. The course also examines emerging application areas, especially the shaping of two-dimensional optical devices inside planar waveguides and the formation of three-dimensional photonic devices using ultrafast laser light. Text: Fiber Bragg Gratings by Raman Kashyap (Academic Press 1999).

ECE 1466H Photonic Switching– Lightpaths, Labels, Packets
Professor E.H. Sargent
This advanced research seminar course will focus on demonstrated and proposed enabling technologies, systems, and architectures aimed at providing network functionality using light. Students taking the course are required to have existing background in networks, photonic devices, and photonic communications systems engineering. The course will examine how industry and academic researchers around the world are addressing the challenges associated with providing connectivity along the continuum from connection-oriented to packet-oriented. Specific topics include packet-over-SONET, MPlS and GMPLS, and true IP-over-glass. Attention will be devoted to purely electronic solutions with transmission alone being achieved optically; hybrid optical-electronic solutions with optically transparent nodes and an electronic control plane; and will discuss the desirability and possibility of a fully optical solution. Enabling technologies such as 2D and 3D MEMS, reconfigurable wavelength routers, wavelength converters, fast optoelectronic switches, and ultrafast nonlinear optical switches will be presented.

ECE 1467H Integrated Optical Circuit Design
Professor J.S. Aitchison/K. Dolgaleva
The aim of this course is to equip graduate students with the skills necessary to carry out practical design exercises and produce integrated optical components. The course will introduce the numerical tools used to simulate waveguides, the material systems and parameters in common use and typical device configurations. Students will develop a practical understanding of basic integrated components, including: Y-junctions, directional couplers, interferometers and multi-mode interferometers (MMIs). The course will also consider typical approaches towards monolithic and hybrid integration.

ECE 1468H Electronic and Optical Properties of Quantum Dots
Professor E.H. Sargent
The course will examine the individual and ensemble properties of electronic systems which are quantum-confined in three dimensions. It will consider the implications of these properties on charge transport, capture, and separation. It will treat linear optical properties, photo– and electroluminescence behaviour, and ultrafast nonlinear optical properties. The course will look at methods and outcomes of different fabrication techniques including epitaxial dot self-assembly, nanocrystal growth in solution, and nanolithographic fabrication techniques. It will explore methods of characterization of individual and collective properties.

ECE 1469H Amorphous Semiconductors: Fundamentals and Applications
Professor N.P. Kherani
Fundamentals and applications of amorphous semiconductors are covered with an emphasis on hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Topics covered include: growth and structural properties of a-Si:H, density of states in the conduction and valence bands and in the band gap, effects of substitutional doping, electronic transport, and recombination mechanisms; applications of amorphous silicon (photovoltaics, TFTs, imaging, photonic crystals); amorphous carbon and carbon nanostructures.
This course is usually taken by students in the Electronics and Photonics groups.

ECE1470H Nanocomposite Materials for Luminescence, Detection, Modulation, and Switching
Professor E.H. Sargent
The course will consider the fundamental optoelectronic properties and device implementations of quantum dot nanocrystals. It will begin with a description of synthetic routes—organometallic and aqueous—towards the realization of these quantum dots, the achievement of surface passivation using various ligands, and the formation of core-shell heterostructures. It will then consider the optical and electronic properties of the quantum dots in various phases—as-synthesized, ligand-exchanged, and included in various solid-state hosts. It will consider in detail experimental means of investigating such nanocomposite materials and guidance given by theory as to their predicted behaviour. The course will then examine the realization and characterization of devices which exploit the properties of quantum dots in optical switching, electro-optic modulation, light emission, and optical detection.

ECE 1471H Erbium-doped Fiber Amplifiers: Design and Characterizations
Professor L. Qian
This course provides the fundamentals of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) - the ubiquitous and one of the essential devices in many photonics systems, particularly, the optical communications systems. Topics include modeling optical amplification in erbium-doped fibers, noise in EDFAs, characteristics of erbium-doped fibers, gain saturation, gain clamping, gain equalization, design considerations for C-band and L-band amplification, polarization-dependent effects in EDFA, and transient gain dynamics. This course is intended to give students a theoretical background as well as hands-on experience in EDFA design, therefore, students will be provided the opportunity to design EDFAs to real-world specifications using specialized software and construct EDFA prototypes in the lab, as well as to perform a number of characterizations on the EDFA prototypes. The course aims to provide students with the rationale for the design criteria and their trade-offs involved in practical EDFA design for various applications.

ECE 1472H Photonics Fabrication and Packaging
Professor P.R. Herman
This laboratory-based course provides hands-on training in several facets of fabricating and packaging photonic devices. Introductory lectures are provided for each lab topic that will frequently be delivered by university and industry experts to provide the student with a sound foundation of the operating principles of diagnostic and processing tools commonly used in photonics research and manufacturing. The lab topics include:

- Diagnostics: optical spectroscopy, SEM, EDS, XPS, AFM, confocal microscopy
- Optical Fibers: splicing, polishing, fusing, packaging, BPM modeling, mode profiles
- Laser Fabrication: fiber Bragg gratings, buried waveguides, diffractive optics

ECE1473H Micro and Nano Fabrication Technologies for Compound Semiconductors
Professor A. Helmy
This course is designed to provide the necessary background for graduate students to use semiconductor fabrication techniques to realize photonic and optoelectronic devices and circuits. The topics covered in this course include; Pattern definition techniques where photolithography, electron beam writing, nano-imprint and laser beam writing will be studied. Pattern transfer technologies including wet chemical etching, plasma induced etching, focused ion beam and chemical assisted ion beam etching will all be studied. Thin Film deposition techniques for optical coatings, etching masks, isolation will be also discussed. Metal-semiconductor interfaces including aspects of Schottky and Ohmic contacts will be explained. Elements of mask design will also be introduced. The course will aim to provide hands-on experience in the ECE clean room situated in the NIT.


ECE 1474H Fiber Lasers and Amplifiers
Professor L. Qian
Fibre lasers and amplifiers are among the mostly widely employed photonic devices, and they are playing an increasingly important role in various kinds of optical applications. This course deals with the theoretical and practical aspects of fibre lasers and amplifiers. To accommodate students with varied backgrounds, topics are separated into two categories: basic and advanced. Basic topics include: lightwaves and their properties; Gaussian beams; waveguide/fiber modes and mode coupling; dispersion; principles of lasers and amplifiers; Q-switch and mode-locked lasers; fiber nonlinearities. Advanced topics include: doped fibre lasers and amplifiers; Raman fibre lasers and amplifiers; Brillouin fibre lasers and amplifiers; fibre parametric amplifiers; high-power fibre lasers; mode-locking of fibre lasers; numerical methods in laser/amplifier modeling.ECE 1473H

ECE1475H  Bio-Photonics
Professor O. Levi
This graduate course will review the field of Bio-photonics, and the interactions of light and biological matter. We will look at Bio-photonics from an engineering and physics perspective, and will review basic principles as well as the instrumentation (imaging and sensing systems) that are used in this field. This course is listed as a graduate course at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. There are 12 two hour lecture sessions, a midterm (after ~ 9 sessions), and two seminar presentations by the students during the semester.

ECE1476H  High-Efficiency Photovoltaics
Professor E.H. Sargent
This seminar course, rooted in the recent literature, will explore high-efficiency, also known as third-generation, solar cells. It will include multijunction architectures, multiexciton mechanisms, and materials ranging from amorphous to multicrystalline to single-crystal to nanocrystal/colloidal quantum dots. It will explore the full range of spectral capture from visible through to infrared and including applications both in solar photovoltaics and thermoelectrics.

Photonics-Related Courses Available from Other Groups: