An optical receiver for eight-level data communication over step index plastic optical fiber

Abstract

An optical receiver with automatic-gain-control transimpedance amplifier, linear post amplifier and linear line driver suitable for multilevel signals is presented. A large-diameter photodiode (400 μm) with an antireflection coating optimized for red light was integrated. These features enable the presented optical receiver to be a promising plastic optical fiber receiver. An error free (<10 −8) 400 Mbit/s data rate over 50 m PMMA-step index plastic optical fiber (1 mm diameter) is achieved with eight-level pulse amplitude modulation (8-PAM).