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Optical Detectors

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Optical Receivers
„ Optical receivers convert optical signal to
electrical signal (light → current/voltage)
Hence referred ‘O/E
O/E Converter’
Converter
„ Fundamental element of optical receiver is
Photodetector, followed by amplifiers and
signal conditioning circuitry

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Four important parameters of Photodetectors
1. Detector Responsivity: This is the ratio of output
current to input optical power (R )
→ Efficiency of the device
2. Spectral Response Range: This is the range of
wavelengths over which the device will operate
3. Response Time: This is a measure of how quickly
the detector can respond to variations in the input
light
g intensity y
4. Noise Characteristics: The level of noise produced
in the device is critical to its operation at low levels
of input light

Types of Photodetectors
„ Photomultipliers
„ Pyroelectric detectors
„ Semiconductor based
‰ Photoconductors
‰ Phototransistors
‰ Photodiodes (main concern in this topic)

Comparison of the above 3 types ?

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Photodetector
„ Detector operation is inverse of the optical
source
„ Use ‘pin’ structures similar to lasers
„ Electrical power is proportional to optical
power squared
Called square law device
„ Important characteristics
‰ Modulation bandwidth (response speed)
‰ Optical conversion efficiency
‰ Noise
‰ Area

Photodetector Requirements
„ High sensitivity (responsivity) at the desired
wavelength and low responsivity elsewhere
„ Low noise and reasonable cost
„ Fast response time Æ high bandwidth
„ Insensitive to temperature variations
„ Compatible with the physical dimensions of the
fiber
„ Long operating life

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¾ Primary photocurrent resulting from absorption is:
IP = R Pin
IP ηq
¾ Responsivity: R = = (A/W)
Pin hν

¾ Quantum Efficiency:

# of electron - hole photo generated pairs

η=
# of incident photons
I /q
η= P
Pin / hν
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Exercise
1. Calculate the responsivity of a p.i.n photodiode at 1.3
and 1.55 µm if the quantum efficiency is 80%. Why is
the photodiode more responsive at 1.55
1 55 µm?

2. Photons at a rate of 1010 per second are incident on an

APD with responsivity of 6 A/W. Calculate the
quantum efficiency and the photocurrent at the
p g wavelength
operating g of 1.5 µmµ for an APD ggain of 10

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 Optical Absorption Coefficient (αs)
„ Upper cutoff wavelength

)
––1
depends upon energy

Absorption Coefficientt (cm

band g gap,
p λ c = 1.24/Eg

Penetration Depth (μm)

Î at λ > λc , αs = 0,

photon energy < Eg

„ At shorter wavelengths,
αs is large, so photon
absorbed closer to the

A
surface, where carrier

P
lifetime is short → no Ip
Wavelength (μm)

Responsivity vs Wavelength
W)
Responsivity (A / W

Wavelength (µm)
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Rise Time & Bandwidth Derive ??
− t / RC
V (t ) = V (1− e
out 0
)
The rise time of a photo detector can be: (10% - 90%)

Tr = (ln 9)(τ tr + τ RC )
time constant of
transit time
equivalent RC circuit
The BW of the photodetector is:
1
Δf =
2π (τ tr + τ RC )
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Common Photodetectors
„ To meet the above requirements, only
reverse biased photodiodes are used as
photo detectors in optical communication
systems
1. P–i–N photodiode
‰ No internal gain
2. Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)
‰ An internal gain of ‘M’ due to self
multiplication

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p-n Photodiodes
Reverse Biased Diode

Ptr = exp (– α W) Pin

Pabs = Pin – Ptr

Variation of optical power Energy Band Diagram

inside the junction Carrier Movement

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p-n Photodiodes characteristics

„ The responsivity of a photodiode is quite high
(R ≈ 1 A/W) because of a high quantum
efficiency
„ BW limited by drift velocity (transit time)
„ Presence of the diffusive component in the
photocurrent (due to photogenerated carriers
outside the depletion region)

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p-i-n Photodiodes

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p-i-n Photodiodes Characteristics

„ i-layer offers a high resistance, and most of the
voltage drop occurs across it (a large electric field
exists in the i-layer)
„ Depletion region width W can be controlled by
changing the middle-layer thickness
„ The main difference from the p–n photodiode is that
the drift component of the photocurrent dominates
over the diffusion component simply because most
of the incident power is absorbed inside the i-region
of a p–i–n photodiode
„ L
Large d
depletion
l ti regioni iincreases responsivity,
i it b butt
increases response time also (so a compromise
……….)
‰ Double-heterostructure design improves the
performance considerably ???
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Characteristics of Common
p-i-n Photodiodes

Dark Current = in the absence of optical signal

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Avalanche Photodiode (APD)

„ APDs internally multiply the primary
photocurrent before it enters the following
circuitry
„ F the
For th carrier
i multiplication
lti li ti tto ttake
k place,
l th
the
photogenerated carriers must traverse along a
high field region
„ In this region, photogenerated electrons and
holes gain enough energy to ionize bound
electrons in VB upon
p colliding g with them. This
multiplication is known as impact ionization.
„ The newly created carriers in the presence of
high electric field result in more ionization called
avalanche effect
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Avalanche Photodiode (APD)

Design of a silicon
Electric Field Distribution reach-through APD

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Responsivity of APD
„ The multiplication factor (current gain) M for all
carriers generated in the photodiode is defined
as:
ie ( d )
M =
ie ( 0 )
Average of the total output power
=
primary photo current

„ The responsivity of APD can be calculated by

considering the current gain as:
⎛ ηq ⎞
R APD = M ⎜ ⎟
⎝ hν ⎠
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Characteristics of Common APDs

K–factor = impact ionization co-efficient ratio = αh / αe ,

where αe > αh

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3 Sections of the Receiver

Low Pass

Linear Channel Data Recovery

Front End

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Equivalent Circuit of the Front End of
the Receiver

High Impedance Receiver

Photodiode modeled
as Current Source

Transimpedance Receiver

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Exercise
Draw a block diagram of a digital optical
receiver showing its various components

Explain the function of each component

How is the signal used by the decision circuit

related to the incident optical power?

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Receiver Noise
„ Detection of weak optical signal requires that
the photodetector and its following amplification
circuitry be optimized for a desired SNR
S signal power from photo current
=
N photo detector noise power + amplifier noise power

The noise current determines the minimum optical power

level that can be detected

This minimum detectable optical power defines

f the
sensitivity of photodetector: i.e. the optical power that
generates a photocurrent with the amplitude equal to that
of the total noise current (S/N=1)

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Noise Sources in Photodetectors

The principal noises associated with photodetectors are :
1. Shot noise: arises from statistical nature of the
production
d ti andd collection
ll ti off stream
t off electrons,
l t
that are generated at random
2. Thermal noise: is the current that continues to
flow through the bias circuit even in the absence
of the light
„ Also
Al called
ll d Johnson
J h N
Noise
i OR Nyquist
N i t Noise
N i

Total photodetector noise current = Shot noise + Thermal noise

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Shot Noise
„ The photodiode current generated in response to constant
optical signal can be written as:
I (t) = IP + iS (t), where IP=R Pin
The spectral density of shot noise is constant (present at all
frequencies), hence, termed as white noise.
σ s = is
2 2
= 2 qI P Δf , …………..….Derive ???
where Δf is effective noise bandwidth
The dark current (Id) also generates shot noise

σ s 2 = 2q ( I P + I d )Δf
where σs = RMS value of noise current

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Dark Current
„ The current that continues to flow through the
bias circuit in the absence of the light
„ This is the combination of bulk dark current
and the surface dark current,
‰ Bulk dark current is due to thermally generated
electron – hole pairs in the pn junction
‰ Surface dark current is due to surface defects,
bias voltage and surface area

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Thermal Noise
σ T 2 = iT 2 = ( 4 k B T / R L ) Δf …………Derive ???

where, Δf is effective noise BW, KB is Boltzmann Constant,

T = Absolute
Ab l t Temperature
T t & RL = Load
L d Resistance
R it

To account for the amplifier noise, a quantity Fn referred to as

amplifier noise figure modifies the above equation as:

(S / N )
σ = i = (4k T / R ) F Δf , where F =
2 2 in
T T B L n n
(S / N )out

Fn represents a factor by which the thermal noise is

enhanced by various resistors used in amplifiers

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Including the effects of both shot noise and

th
thermall noise,
i ttotal
t l currentt b
becomes:

I (t ) = I p + is (t ) + iT (t )

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 Signal to Noise Ratio – p-i-n
average signal power I2
SNR = = P2
noise power σ
I p = ℜ Pin and ℜ = η q / h ν
2 2
σ =σ s + σ T2 whereas σ T2 >> σ 2
s

R L ℜ 2 Pin2
Therefore , SNR =
4 k B TF n Δ f

„ The noise equivalent power (NEP) = minimum optical

power per unit bandwidth to produce SNR = 1 is given as:

P in 4k B TF n hν 4k B TF n
NEP = = =
Δf R L ℜ
2 ηq R L

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Signal to Noise Ratio – APD

⎛ R L R 2 Pin2 ⎞
SNR = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ M 2

⎝ 4 k B TF n Δ f ⎠

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 Bit-Error Rate
Gaussian probability densities
of 1s and 0s
Dashed region
g shows the
probability of
incorrect identification

BER = p (1) P (0 / 1) + p (0) P (1 / 0)

1
= [P(0 / 1) + P (1 / 0)]
2
I −I
1 ⎛ Q ⎞ exp(−Q 2 / 2) where Q= 1 0

BER = erfc ⎜ ⎟≈ σ +σ
2 ⎝ 2 ⎠ Q 2π 1 0

Complementary Error Function

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Bit-Error Rate vs Q Parameter

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 Linear Channel & BER
Eye Pattern

Ideal Degraded

The oscilloscope display in which a digital data signal from

a receiver is repetitively sampled and applied to the vertical
input, while the data rate is used to trigger the horizontal sweep

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Basic information contained in the

Eye Diagram

The most important are size of the eye opening

(signal-to-noise during sampling), plus the magnitude
of the amplitude and timing errors
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Minimum Received Power

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Quantum Limit
Minimum number of photons/bit, to achieve BER < 10-9

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Power Penalty (Sensitivity Degradation)
The increase in the
minimum average
received power
required by the
receiver, because of
non ideal conditions

Noise Intensity

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Power Penalty vs Extinction Ratio

Extinction Ratio,
rex = P0/P1

P0 = Power
contained in Bit 0

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Power Penalty vs Intensity Noise Parameter

Measure of the
noise level (power
fluctuations)
of the incident
optical signal

= (rI)

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Power Penalty vs Timing Jitter

The sampling time fluctuations from bit to bit, because
of the noisy nature of the input to the clock–recovery
circuit

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Receiver performance
at 1550 nm
Measuring the
BER as a
function of
the average
optical power
received

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