Reduction of fall times in Ga0.47In0.53As photoconductive receivers through back gating

Abstract

We have observed the reduction of fall times in Ga0.47In0.53As photoconductive receivers by applying a reverse back gate voltage. A reduction of fall times from 7 to ≊1 ns was obtained with a back gate voltage as low as 1.1 V. The increase in response speeds reduced the bit error rates at 420 Mb/s from 3×10−6 to 10−8 at 1.55 μm, and should improve the receiver sensitivity by ≊1 dB. More importantly, the increase in bandwidths may allow the detector to operate without equalizers for certain bit rates. This is the first demonstration of a back gated photoconductive receiver operating in the 1.1–1.65-μm range.