Course contents: Why optical fibres are needed. Transmission, transportation and switching. What are the building blocks for a point-to-point link. BER, Q-factor, EOP. Optical fibre and propagation in it. Dispersion, losses, power budget; modeling of dispersion and dispersion compensation. Lasers and their principle of operation, single mode semiconductor laser, rate equations. Optical amplifiers and their noise. Optical receivers . Optical filters and multiplexers. WDM systems and their design principles. Non-linear effects and their impact.

Assessment: Written exams at the end of the semester.