Sensitivity of non-steady-state photoelectromotive force-based adaptive photodetectors and characterization techniques

Abstract

The light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of the non-steady-state photoelectromotive force effect and its threshold sensitivity for the detection of phase-modulated optical signals and space-charge electric fields are evaluated. It is shown that for the optimal conditions of operation (the carrier spatial frequency is equal to the inverse diffusion length of the photocarriers, the detected frequency is higher than the cutoff frequency of the electromotive force signal, and the load resistance is higher than the resistance of the sample), the generation-recombination noise is approximately equal to the thermal noise of the sample resistance. In this case the threshold sensitivity of the adaptive photodetector without an external dc bias is independent of the parameters of the crystal used and can be only 4√2 times lower than that caused by the generation-recombination noise in a conventional photoresistor. Unlike in photodiodes and photoresistors, the output noise caused by laser intensity fluctuations is of the multiplicative type in the adaptive photodetectors.