The Optoelectronic Mixing Characterization of Uni-Traveling Carrier Photodetector

Abstract

In this work, the optoelectronic mixing characteristics of the uni-traveling carrier photodetector (UTC-PD) were investigated. Three different types of optoelectronic mixing modes were analyzed, including fundamental mixing, harmonic mixing, and RF subharmonic mixing. The output power bias voltage-dependent behaviors of a 60-GHz optical sinusoidal wave and its harmonic signals were studied. The methods that can significantly improve the power of the optoelectronic mixing output signal were proposed. It is found that setting the peak-to-peak value of the RF signal at the bias end in the optimized bias voltage range where the RF output power can obtain a larger increment is the key to obtaining a high power mixing product. Increasing the power of the optical signal to make the output power increment in the same bias range further increased is also effective to enhance the mixing product. Taking the same techniques, the output power of the higher order harmonic mixing product can also be improved, which makes the higher order harmonic mixing application of the UTC-PD feasible.