Abstract
In this paper we review the recent development of resonant cavity light emitting diodes (RC-LEDs), intended for short-haul polymer optical fibre (POF) data transmission systems. The RC-LEDs with emission windows of ∅84 μm in diameter, suitable for standard POFs, exhibit bandwidths up to 200 MHz and light power of 3 mW (cw). The maximum external quantum efficiency is 9.5%. Larger devices, ∅500 μm in size, launch light power up to 15 mW. Record high transmission rates, 622 Mbit s−1, with bit-error rate <1×10−11 have been demonstrated for a 1 m long step-index POF. The devices are robust. Neither sudden unexpected failure, nor gradual power degradation has been observed after operation under accelerated ageing conditions for about 100000 device-hours. The alignment tolerance of the coupling efficiency is found to be very large, ±0.5 mm in all x–y–z, directions, suggesting that fibre pigtail packaging is inexpensive.
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