Photonics Lab Report :: Photonic Photons

Photonics Lab Introduction In the world of communication, lasers can be very helpful in transporting a variety of information across the planet. In this experiment, we decided to advance our knowledge about lasers and perform more tedious activities with them. Instead of shooting lasers through a gelatin substance and reading angles in which they reflect, we were going to step it up a bit. This time our final goal was to be able to verbally communicate through space using a laser. Photonics is described as science and technology based on and concerned with the flow of electrons. The Communication system that relies on the flow of photons is known as a Photonic Link. I plan to successfully be able to communicate over free space using a photonic link in the end of this experiment. Materials/Methods In this experiment, we needed the following materials: †¢ A Laser (with all hook-ups) †¢ A signal generator †¢ 2 Amplifier circuits †¢ A photo-detector †¢ An Oscilloscope (with hook-up cables) †¢ A speaker †¢ Soldering Iron for putting together circuits †¢ Transformer Task 1 Construct one of the Amplifier circuits following directions and using the soldering iron. Connect battery and speaker to the circuit. Connect the amplifier circuit to the oscilloscope and signal generator. Connect the signal generator directly to the oscilloscope. Calculate the voltage amplitude from the amplifier from the minimum and maximum settings. Calculate the gain in decibels. Task 2 Modulate the laser using the transformer. Turn on amplifier circuit. Point laser towards the photo resistor. Connect to the oscilloscope. Adjust the amplifier until you can hear the signal generator signal. Task 3 Connect oscilloscope to amplifier. Modulate laser as before. Point laser towards photo detector. Perform measurements of voltage output for different frequencies. Take measurements at the highest frequency that will provide a measurable voltage. Report data in a graph. Calculate the bandwidth of the voltages that were measured. Task 4 Construct the second amplifier circuit. Connect a microphone to the amplifier instead of a photo detector. Connect the transformer to the amplifier. Connect voltage supply to the laser. Adjust the amplifiers until you can successfully project your voice through space using the laser and it can come out the speaker on the other circuit. Results In the first task we were able to successfully solder together the circuit and it was able to amplify the signal from the generator, as it should. In the second task, we were able to modulate the laser. In the third task we were able to calculate the bandwidth and we received the following information: Voltage Vs.