OPTICAL

RECEIVERS
 R e c e i v e r Operation

• A Fiber-Optic receiver is an electro-optic device that accepts optical

signals from an optical fiber and converts them into electrical signals.
• A typical fiber- optic receiver consists of an optical detector, a low- noise
amplifier, and other circuitry used to produce the output electrical signal.
• The optical detector converts the incoming optical signal into an
electrical signal. The amplifier then amplifies the electrical signal to a
level suitable for further signal processing. 
S ig na l P a t h t h ro u g h a n Optical
Link
 F u n d a m e n t a l R e c e i v e r Operation
• The first receiver element is a pin or a n avalanche photodiode, which produces
a n electric current proportional to the received power level.
• Since this electric current typically is very weak, a front-end amplifier boosts
it to a level t h a t can be used by the following electronics.
• After being amplified, the signal passes through a low-pass filter to reduce the
noise t h a t is outside of the signal bandwidth.
• The also filter can reshape (equalize) the pulses t h a t have become distorted as
they traveled through the fiber.
• Together with a clock (timing) recovery circuit, a decision circuit decides
whether a 1 or 0 pulse was received,
 Photo Detectors
• Optical receivers convert optical signal (light) to electrical
signal (current/voltage)
Hence referred ‘O/E Converter’

• Photodetector is the fundamental element of optical

receiver, followed by amplifiers an d signal conditioning
circuitry
• There are several photodetector types:
 Diodes
•Pn-diodes
•Pin diodes
•Avalanche photodiodes
•Schottky diodes
 Photo conductors
 Photo transistors
 P ro c e s s o f P h o t o D e t e c t o r s
• ABSORPTION:
• TRANSPORTAION OF CARRIER:
• GENERATION OF PHOTOCURRENT:

Operation of the p–n photodiode: (a) photogeneration of an electron–hole pair in an intrinsic semiconductor;
(b) the structure of the reverse-biased p–n junction illustrating carrier drift in the depletion region; (c) the
energy band diagram of the reverse-biased p–n junction showing photogeneration and the subsequent
separation of an electron–hole pair
Process of Photo Detectors
• The absorption leads to an excitation of an electron from the
valence to the conduction band.
• The absorption of a photon produces an electron hole-pair and thus
a photocurrent.
• The absorption of the photons depends on the absorption
coefficient α in the medium. The absorption coefficient is strongly
wavelength dependent. The photocurrent caused by the absorption
of photons can be calculated by:

where P0 is the optical power, λ is the wavelength of the incident light, h is

the Planck constant, and e is the elementary charge.
The term R accounts for the reflection at the interface of the detector and
air, (1-R) is the light absorbed in the detector and the exponential term
considers the absorption in the medium. d is the thickness of the absorber.
 Req u irem e n ts
 High sensitivity at the operating wavelengths:
The first generation systems have wavelengths between 0.8 and 0.9 μm
compatible with AlGaAs laser and LED emission lines). However,
considerable advantage may be gained at the detector from second-
generation sources with operating wavelengths above 1.1 μm as both fiber
attenuation and dispersion are reduced. There is much research activity at
present in this longer wavelength region, especially concerning
wavelengths around 1.3 μm where attenuation and material dispersion can
be minimized.
 High fidelity:
To reproduce the received signal waveform with fidelity, for analogy
transmission the response of the photodetector must be linear with regard
to the optical signal over a wide range.
 Large electrical response to the received optical signal:
The photodetector should produce a maximum electrical signal for a given
amount of optical power; that is, the quantum efficiency should be high.
 Req u irem e n ts
 Short response time to obtain a suitable bandwidth:
Current single-channel, singlemode fiber systems extend up to many tens
of gigahertz. However, it is apparent that future wavelength division
multiplexed systems will operate in the multiple terahertz (1012 Hz)
range, and possibly above.
 A minimum noise introduced by the detector:
Dark currents, leakage currents and shunt conductance must be low. Also
the gain mechanism within either the detector or associated circuitry must
be of low noise.
 Stability of performance characteristics:
Ideally, the performance characteristics of the detector should be
independent of changes in ambient conditions. However, the detectors
currently favored (photodiodes) have characteristics (sensitivity, noise,
internal gain) which vary with temperature, and therefore compensation
for temperature effects is often necessary.
 .
 Req u irem e n ts
 Small size:
The physical size of the detector must be small for efficient coupling to the
fiber and to allow easy packaging with the following electronics.
 Low bias voltages:
Ideally the detector should not require excessive bias voltages or currents
 High reliability:
The detector must be capable of continuous stable operation at room
temperature for many years.
 Low cost:
Economic considerations are often of prime importance in any largescale
communication system application
 Q u a n t u m Efficiency
• The quantum efficiency η is defined as the fraction of incident
photons w hich are absor bed by the photodetector and gener ate
electrons which are collected at the detector terminals:

where r p is the incident photon rate (photons per second) and r e is the
corresponding electron rate (electrons per second).
• One of the major factors which determines the quantum efficiency is the absorption
coefficient of the semiconductor material used within the photodetector.
• The quantum efficiency is generally less than unity as not all of the incident photons
are absorbed to create electron–hole pairs.
• The quantum efficiency is a function of the photon wavelength and must therefore
only be quoted for a specific wavelength.
Spectral Responsivity
• The quantum efficiency does not take into account the photon energy. Therefore,
the responsibility can be very helpful to describe the spectral sensitivity of the
devices. The spectral responsivity is given by:

Where, I p h it the photocurrent and P 0 is the incident optical power.

The unit of the spectral responsivity is A/W. The spectral
sensitivity can be derived from the quantum efficiency by:

• It can be seen that the responsivity is increasing with the

wavelength of the incident photons. The difference between the
ideal and the real diode can be explained by thermal losses for
lower wavelengths and a reduced absorption coefficient for higher
wavelengths.
• The energy of a photon E = hf. Thus the incident photon rate rp
may be written in terms of incident optical power and the photon
energy as:
Spectral Responsivity
• The electron rate is given by:

Also
Therefore, the output photocurrent is:

• Relationship for responsivity which may be developed a stage further to include

the wavelength of the incident light:

• The responsivity is directly proportional to the quantum efficiency at a particular

wavelength:
Spectral Responsivity

Responsivity of an ideal and a real silicon photodiode. The ideal responsivity

against wavelength characteristic for a silicon photodiode with unit quantum
efficiency.
PN Photodiodes
 The photogenerated electron hole pairs in the depletion region of the
diode contribute to the overall photocurrent.
 A PN-diode like all other diodes can be operated under short circuit
conditions or under reverse bias voltage.
 Depending on the applied material the quantum efficiency of the diode
might be slightly higher for reverse bias voltage.
 The transient response might be faster.
 The signal to noise ratio of the diode is mainly defined by the applied
material.
 The smaller the optical bandgap and the higher the number of electronic
defects in the material the higher the leakage current.
 Due to the fact the depletion region is very thin (depends on the applied
reverse bias voltage and the doping levels in the p- and the n-region) the
quantum efficiency of a PN-diode is usually not very high.
 Most of the light that is absorbed will simply not contribute to the overall
photocurrent.
 In order to extend the region of carrier extraction an intrinsic layer or a slightly
doped layer is usually introduced between the p- and the n-region.
PIN Photodiodes
 As a consequence the depletion region is extended across the intrinsic or
lightly doped layer and therefore more photo-generated carriers
contribute to the photocurrent.
 The PIN-diode can be realized as an homo-junction or a heterojunction.
If the structure is realized in silicon the device will be usually a
homojunction. Under such conditions all three layers (p-,i- and n-
region) have the same optical bandgap.
 Depending on the application the thickness and the individual layers can
be adjusted.
 The thicker the i-layer the further the sensitivity can be extend in the
near infrared part of the optical spectrum.
 If there is only an interest in detecting blue or green light the i-layer can
be kept short.
 The diode is only sensitive up to a wavelength of 1100nm. In such a
case the i-layer would be already relatively thick (typically a few
100µm.).
PIN Photodiodes
 PIN Photodiodes
Typical materials used for the three optical communication bands:
Short wave band (800nm – 900nm)
Silicon pin diodes are the best choice for the short wave band. The diodes are very
inexpensive, reliable and easy to handle.
Medium Wave band (1250 nm - 1350nm)
In this band germanium and different compound semiconductors are of interest.
Germanium has a lower bandgap energy of 0.67eV, so that it can theoretically be used up
to 1600nm (but it is typically not used). Indium gallium arsenide phosphide (InGaAsP) is
an alternative. The material has an optical bandgap of 0.89eV (depending on the
composition of the material) and is perfectly suitable for the medium wavelength band. Of
course all diodes based on compound semiconductors are significantly more expensive in
manufacturing.
Long Wave Band (1500nm - 1600 nm)
For the long wave band the optical bandgap of the material has to be already very small.
This causes problems. At room temperature already a large number of carriers is excited
due to thermal excitation. This problem can be solved to a certain extend by using
heterostructures. A material used here is usually InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide).
InGaAs has a bandgap energy of 0.77 eV.
Schottky Barrier Diode
The sensitivity of the detector has to be matched with the optical spectrum of the
incident light. Hence, different materials have to be applied for different optical
communication bands (short, medium or long wave band).
Sometimes it is not possible to realized pn-diodes for a given wavelength band
and/or the performance of the diodes is not sufficient to be applied as a detector in
an optical communication system.
Understanding optical communications One alternative to overcome this limitation
could be a Schottky Barrier Diode.
A thin metal layer replaces either the p- or the n-region of the diode.
Depending on the semiconductor and the metal being involved a barrier is formed
at the interface of the two materials.
This barrier leads to a bending of the bands. Due to the applied voltage the bands
can be bended more or less.
In the region of the band bending electron hole pairs can be separated.
Schottky Barrier Diode
 Av a l a n c h e P h o t o d i o d e s
• One way of increasing the sensitivity of the receiver is amplification.
• APDs amplify the signal during the detection process.
• The operating principle of a APD is based on the avalanche effect, where a
highly accelerated electron excites another electron due to “impact
ionization”. However, in the first step a photon has to be absorbed and a
electron-hole pair has to be generated.
• The device consists of two regions. In region 1 of the device the electron
hole pairs are generated and separated. In region 2 of the device the carriers
are accelerated and „impact ionized“.
• The multiplication factor M is a measure of the internal gain provided by the
APD. It is defined as:

where I is the total output current at the operating voltage (i.e. where carrier
multiplication occurs) and Ip is the initial or primary photocurrent (i.e.
before carrier multiplication occurs).
 Av a l a n c h e P h o t o d i o d e s
 The device operation works as following: Arriving photons pass through thin n
+pjunction. The carriers are absorbed in a π- region.
 The absorption leads to the generation of electron-hole pairs in this region. The electric
field in the π-region is high enough to separate the carriers.
 The electric field across the π-region is not high enough for the charge carriers to gain
enough energy for multiplication to take place.
 The electric field, however, in the n +p-region the electric field is significantly higher, so
that the charge carriers (in this case electrons only) are strongly accelerated and pick up
energy.
 The electrons collide with other atoms in the lattice, which leads to the production of new
electron-hole pairs (“impact ionization”).
 The newly released charge carriers again will collide with the lattice to produce more
electron-hole pairs.
 It is of interest to mention that the carrier mobility of holes in silicon is significantly
lower than the electron mobility.
 Furthermore, the impact ionized holes have to travel all the way from the n +p-region to
the right p +-region, whereas the electron only have to travel to the n +-region.
 The probability of having electron multiplication is much higher than the probability of
having hole multiplication. Therefore, the electron mainly contribute to the overall
current (which is intended).
Av a l a n c h e P h o t o d i o d e s
 Av a l a n c h e P h o t o d i o d e (APD)
• APD has a n internal gain M, which is obtained by
having a high electric field t h a t energizes photo-
generated electrons.
• These electrons ionize bound electrons in the
valence band upon colliding with them which is
known as impact ionization
• The newly generated electrons and holes are also
accelerated by the high electric field and gain
energy to cause further impact ionization
• This phenomena is the avalanche effect
Av a l a n c h e P h o t o d i o d e s
APD Vs P I N
 Photoconductive Detectors
• PN and PIN diodes have a clear disadvantage which is the
transient response.
• The transient response is limited by the capacitance of the
diode or the transient time of the charges.
• One way to overcome the limits set by the capacitance of the
diode could be a photoconductor structure. The photoconductor
is clearly the simplest available detector structure.
• In the case of a photoconductor the resistivity of the device is
changed as a function of the intensity (not a photocurrent).
Therefore, we have to apply a voltage to the detector to
measure the change in the current flow (Photodiodes can be
operated under short circuit conditions).
• The photoconductive detector is formed by two adjacent finger
contact which are placed on a semiconducting material.
 Photoconductive Detectors
• Due to the fact that the capacitance of the device is extremely
low it should be possible to build very fast optical detectors.
The transient time of detectors is limited by the drift velocity
(velocity of the carriers caused by the applied electric field) of
the carriers.
• For the manufacturing it is important to form good ohmic
contacts with the semiconductor. Otherwise Schottky barriers
are formed which will limit the current flow.
• The photoconductive detector is an unipolar device, which
means that the current flow is either completely dominated by
electrons or by holes.
• Diodes are bipolar devices, because electrons and hole
contribute to the current transport.
Photoconductive Detectors

Photoconductive detector structure which operates in the medium and

the long wave band.
 Photodetector Noise
• In fiber optic communication systems, the photodiode is
generally required to detect very weak optical signals.
• Detection of weak optical signals requires t h a t the
photodetector and its amplification circuitry be optimized to
maintain a given signal-to-noise ratio.
• The power signal-to-noise ratio S/N (also designated by
SNR) a t the output of a n optical receiver is defined by

SNR Can NOT be improved by amplification

R e s p o n s e Time i n
pin
photodiode

Transit time, td and carrier drift velocity vd are related by

td  w / vd For a high speed Si PD, td = 0.1 ns
 R i s e a n d fall t i m e s

Photodiode has uneven rise and fall times depending on:

1. Absorption coefficient s() and
 o r A
2. Junction Capacitance Cj Cj
w
Junction Capacitance
A C j o r
w

εo = 8.8542 x 10(-12) F/m; free space

permittivity εr = the semiconductor dielectric
constant
A = the diffusion layer (photo
sensitive) area w = width of the depletion
layer
Large area photo detectors have large
junction capacitance hence small bandwidth
 Various p u l s e re s p o n s e s

Pulse response is a complex function of absorption coefficient

and junction capacitance
Co mp a r i s on s of pin
Photodiodes

NOTE: The values were derived from various vendor

data sheets and from performance numbers reported
in the literature. They are guidelines for comparison
purposes.
 C o m p a r i s o n s of A PD s

NOTE: The values were derived from various vendor data

sheets and from performance numbers reported in the
literature. They are guidelines for comparison purposes only.
N o i s e S o u rc e s i n a
Receiver
The term noise describes unwanted components of a n electric signal t h a t tend to
disturb the transmission and processing of the signal
• The random arrival rate of signal photons produces qu a n t um (shot) noise
• Dark current comes from thermally generated eh pairs in the pn junction
• Additional shot noise arises from the statistical natur e of the APD process
• Thermal noises arise from the random motion of electrons in the detector load
resistor a nd in the amplifier electronics
Probability of Error (BER)
• BER is the ratio of erroneous bits to correct bits
• A simple way to measure the error rate in a digital da ta
stream is to divide the number Ne of errors occurring over a
certain time interval t by the number N t of pulses (ones and
zeros) transmitted during this interval.
• This is the bit-error rate (BER)
• Here B is the bit rate.
• Typical error rates for optical fiber telecom systems range
from 10–9 to 10–12 (compared to 10-6 for wireless systems)
• The error rate depends on the signal-to-noise ratio a t the
receiver (the ratio of signal power to noise power).
Archi tecture of a Typical P O N
• A passive optical network (PON) connects switching equipment
in a central office (CO) with N service subscribers
• Digitized voice an d d a ta are sent downstream from the CO to
customers over a n optical link by using a 1490-nm wavelength.
• The upstream (customer to central office) r e t u r n p a t h for the d a t a
a nd voice uses a 1310-nm wavelength.