Our modern, information-based world would not be conceivable without the
tremendous achievements in optical communications over Single Mode Fibers of the last three decades. Transmission rates over one Single Mode Fiber in the range of Multi-Terabits/s are state of the art, transpacific transmission distances without electronic data regeneration over more than 9000 km have been realized. Nevertheless, the ever increasing demand for bandwidth requires continuing extension of the transmission capacity of optical communication systems.
With this motivation a multitude of research projects are carried out in our group in the fields of:

• Physical modeling and numerical simulation of optical communication systems
• Investigation into advanced optical modulation and coding schemes
• Optimization of the physical link-design including all relevant interacting linear and nonlinear effects
• Optimization of electronic predistortion and equalization methods
• Information-theoretical evaluation of the channel-capacity of optical fibers
• Modeling and optimization of new optical transmission media (multicore fibers, few-mode fibers, hollow-core fibers)

For inhouse-communication or data-transfer in planes or vehicles, Polymer Optical Fibers are an efficient alternative to copper, or silica fibers. However, the polymer optical channel needs special treatment due to the high amount of modes (more than one million) propagating in the large POF-core. Data transmission over POF is optical, using visible light as data carrier. In contrast to that, traditional copper wires are mainly operated in baseband, or with moderate carrier-frequencies in the MHz-range. It is obvious that channel modeling for these channels differs fundamentally, just as the methods to maximize data throughput and reach.
In this context our group carries our research in the fields of:

• Modeling and simulation of components and systems
• Optimization
• Realization of demonstrators using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)