Photodetector Noise Research Articles

Hybrid OFDM RoF-Based WDM-PON/MMW Backhaul Architecture For Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

In this paper, a hybrid backhaul architecture, which is based on wavelength-division multiplexing passive optical networks (WDM-PON) and millimeter-wave (MMW) communications, is proposed to deliver orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals in heterogeneous wireless networks. MMW radio-over-fiber (RoF) technique, which combines the advantages of the both optical fiber and wireless communications, is used to simplify the base stations and provide flexibility long reach and high capacity connections. The feasibility of the proposed hybrid backhaul architecture is investigated via the bit-error rate (BER) performance of a downlink under the impacts of fiber nonlinear, wireless fading and noise components including clipping noise, amplifier noise and photodetector noise. The numerical results obtained from this study help to determine the optimum system parameters such as the optical launched power, modulation index, and amplifier gain so as to minimize the link’s BER.

Performance evaluation of an IMDD optical OFDM-CDMA system.

In this paper, we propose a modulation technique for passive optical networks that harnesses two-dimensional prime hop system optical code division multiplexing access (OCDMA) and optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) for intensity modulation with direct-detection (IMDD) to enhance users' signal capacity in a cost-effective manner. The theoretical analysis is built from an analytical formula that takes into account both multiple-access interference and photodetector noise. Results show that OFDM-OCDMA with multiple users has similar performance to single-user conventional OOFDM for low transmitted powers.

High responsivity and 1/f noise of an ultraviolet photodetector based on Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles.

This study involves the novel fabrication of a high responsivity, fast response, and low-cost (UV) photodetector (PD) based on ZnO/Ni nanoparticles deposited on a glass substrate. The ZnO/Ni nanoparticles were synthesized using a polyol process. The structure and the morphology of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Optical properties were measured using UV-visible, diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The photodetector exhibited high photoresponse characteristics under 375 nm laser excitation. Our device shows a high responsivity (121 A W−1) with rise time (about 5.52 s) and fall time (about 12 s) at a bias voltage of 1 V. The device exhibits excellent reproducibility and stability characteristics with time. The noise spectra obtained from the UV photodetector were caused by the 1/f noise. The noise-equivalent power (NEP) is 1.08 × 10−9 W. Thus, the polyol process can be a useful and effective method for improving the performance of ZnO/Ni UV photodetectors.

Improvement in the Imaging Performance of Atomic Force Microscopy: A Survey

Nanotechnology is the branch of science which deals with the manipulation of matters at an extremely high resolution down to the atomic level. In recent years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has proven to be extremely versatile as an investigative tool in this field. The imaging performance of AFMs is hindered by: 1) the complex behavior of piezo materials, such as vibrations due to the lightly damped low-frequency resonant modes, inherent hysteresis, and creep nonlinearities; 2) the cross-coupling effect caused by the piezoelectric tube scanner (PTS); 3) the limited bandwidth of the probe; 4) the limitations of the conventional raster scanning method using a triangular reference signal; 5) the limited bandwidth of the proportional-integral controllers used in AFMs; 6) the offset, noise, and limited sensitivity of position sensors and photodetectors; and 7) the limited sampling rate of the AFM's measurement unit. Due to these limitations, an AFM has a high spatial but low temporal resolution, i.e., its imaging is slow, e.g., an image frame of a living cell takes up to 120 s, which means that rapid biological processes that occur in seconds cannot be studied using commercially available AFMs. There is a need to perform fast scans using an AFM with nanoscale accuracy. This paper presents a survey of the literature, presents an overview of a few emerging innovative solutions in AFM imaging, and proposes future research directions.

Cross-Correlation Measurements of Phase Noise Induced by Relative Intensity Noise in Photodetectors

Up-converted phase noise, which is induced by the low-frequency relative intensity noise (RIN) of a laser through AM-PM conversion within a photodetector (PD), is first measured here by means of a cross-correlation method. Our proposed measurement system can isolate the RIN-induced phase noise from noise contributions of other components, such as amplifiers, modulators, and mixers. In particular, shot noise and thermal noise generated from the PD are also suppressed by this method, so that standalone characteristics of the RIN-induced phase noise can be obtained. Experimental results clearly show the quantitative relationship between the RIN-induced phase noise and the incident optical power of the PD. Our findings indicate that the least RIN-induced phase noise appeared at the saturation point of the PD, which is about -162 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset.

Enhanced infrared detectors using resonant structures combined with thin type-II superlattice absorbers

We examined the spectral responsivity of a 1.77 μm thick type-II superlattice based long-wave infrared detector in combination with metallic nanoantennas. Coupling between the Fabry-Pérot cavity formed by the semiconductor layer and the resonant nanoantennas on its surface enables spectral selectivity, while also increasing peak quantum efficiency to over 50%. Electromagnetic simulations reveal that this high responsivity is a direct result of field-enhancement in the absorber layer, enabling significant absorption in spite of the absorber's subwavelength thickness. Notably, thinning of the absorbing material could ultimately yield lower photodetector noise through a reduction in dark current while improving photocarrier collection efficiency. The temperature- and incident-angle-independent spectral response observed in these devices allows for operation over a wide range of temperatures and optical systems. This detector paradigm demonstrates potential benefits to device performance with applications throughout the infrared.

Approaching attometer laser vibrometry.

The heterodyne two-beam interferometer has been proven to be the optimal solution for laser-Doppler vibrometry (LDV) regarding accuracy and signal robustness. The theoretical resolution limit for a two-beam interferometer of laser class 3R (up to 5 mW visible measurement-light) is in the regime of a few femtometer per square-root Hertz and well suited to study vibrations in microstructures. However, some new applications of radio-frequency microelectromechanical (RF-MEM) resonators, nanostructures, and surface-nano-defect detection require resolutions beyond that limit. The resolution depends only on the photodetector noise and the sensor sensitivity to specimen displacements. The noise is already defined in present systems by the quantum nature of light for a properly designed optical sensor and more light would lead to an inacceptable influence like heating of the tiny specimen. Noise can only be improved by squeezed-light techniques which require a negligible loss of measurement light which is impossible to realize for almost all technical measurement tasks. Thus, improving the sensitivity is the only path which could make attometer laser vibrometry possible. Decreasing the measurement wavelength would increase the sensitivity but would also increase the photon shot noise. In this paper, we discuss an approach to increase the sensitivity by assembling an additional mirror between interferometer and specimen to form an optical cavity. A detailed theoretical analysis of this setup is presented and we derive the resolution limit, discuss the main contributions to the uncertainty budget, and show a first experiment proving the sensitivity and resolution improvement of our approach.

Long-Range Distributed Vibration Sensing Based on Phase Extraction From Phase-Sensitive OTDR

Distributed fiber-optic vibration sensors based on phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry ( $\phi$ -OTDR) have found many applications in various fields. In this paper, we analyze the phase noise of $\phi$ -OTDR, which is the main limiting factor of the measurement range. We found that the laser phase noise and phase extraction error caused by the intensity noise in photodetection contribute to the total phase noise. By introducing a series of auxiliary weak reflection points along the fiber, we develop a phase-noise-compensated $\phi$ -OTDR and realize a long-range distributed vibration sensing based on the phase extraction. Furthermore, a statistical analysis was proposed to maintain the vibration measurement sensitivity along the whole fiber. In the experiment, vibrations at 30 km were measured with a linear response, which confirmed the validity of our proposed system.

Impairment assessment of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing over dispersion-managed links in backbone and backhaul networks

The past decade has seen the phenomenal usage of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in the wired as well as wireless communication domains, and it is also proposed in the literature as a future proof technique for the implementation of flexible resource allocation in cognitive optical networks. Fiber impairment assessment and adaptive compensation becomes critical in such implementations. A comprehensive analytical model for impairments in OFDM-based fiber links is developed. The proposed model includes the combined impact of laser phase fluctuations, fiber dispersion, self phase modulation, cross phase modulation, four-wave mixing, the nonlinear phase noise due to the interaction of amplified spontaneous emission with fiber nonlinearities, and the photodetector noises. The bit error rate expression for the proposed model is derived based on error vector magnitude estimation. The performance analysis of the proposed model is presented and compared for dispersion compensated and uncompensated backbone/backhaul links. The results suggest that OFDM would perform better for uncompensated links than the compensated links due to the negligible FWM effects and there is a need for flexible compensation. The proposed model can be employed in cognitive optical networks for accurate assessment of fiber-related impairments.

The effect of temperature instability on the threshold sensitivity of photodetectors based on AIII–BV photodiodes

The dependence of the sensitivity of photodetectors based on AIII–BV photodiodes on accidental variations of the temperature of its elements is analyzed. It is shown that the temperature drift of the bias level in input circuits of op-amps strongly contributes to the resulting photodetector noise up to frequencies on the order of 1 MHz. To reach the limiting sensitivities of the sensors, it is necessary to stabilize the temperature of not only the photodiode chip, but also the integrated circuit of the first amplifier stage. For most of applications, the required stabilization accuracy does not exceed ±0.1°C. As a result of the analysis, prototype high-sensitivity medium-wavelength (2–5 μm) sensors were developed that operate without forced cooling and have a detection threshold of tens of nanowatts at a detection bandwidth of 0–1 MHz.

Atomic Fountain Equation

A procedure is proposed for separating atomic fountain noise, depending on atom flux density. It is assumed that atomic fountain frequency is affected by photodetector noise, fountain shot noise, spin-exchange noise, and probing signal noise. Taking account of these noise sources allows the accuracy of frequency measurements made using an atomic fountain to be improved.

Flicker Noise in Opto-Electronic Oscillator and Photonic-Delay Homodyne Phase Noise Measurement System

In this paper, the effect of device flicker noise on the characteristics of both opto-electronic oscillator and Photonic-delay homodyne phase noise measurement system is analyzed. An analytic theory model of opto-electronic oscillator (OEO) is derived and verified by experiments in this paper, where the flicker and white noise are both considered. The sensitivity of Photonic-delay homodyne phase noise measurement system is improved by using high-linear photodetector and low-phase noise amplifier resulting from decreasing systematic phase noise.

Effect of low-frequency noise on the threshold sensitivity of middle-IR photodetectors in a broad frequency range

Low-frequency noise of a photodiode-based photodetector (PD) implementing a transimpedance amplifier scheme has been analyzed. It is found that the low-frequency (drift) noise component in the input chains of modern operational amplifiers makes a decisive contribution to resultant noises of PDs based on A3B5 photodiodes at frequencies up to several hundred kilohertz. An illustrative “vector” method of description of the noise characteristics of PD elements is proposed for selecting the optimum type of operational amplifier so as to achieve the final sensitivity and accuracy characteristics at a given response speed.

基于光纤延时线的低相噪光电振荡器与高灵敏度相噪测量系统的研制

Injection-locking method is applied to X band low-phase noise and small-spur opto-electronic oscillator (OEO) in this paper. Based on the quasi-linear theory, a new analytical model is built, and the effect of injection power on the single side band (SSB) phase noise and spurs of OEO is also analyzed. Results suggest that only moderate injection power can make sure both of the low phase noise and small spurs. In order to measure super-low phase noise of oscillators, the cross-correlation measurement system based on the fiber delay line is built, where high linear photodetector and low-phase noise amplifier are used to improve systematic sensitivity. low-phase noise OEO (-125 dBc/Hz@1 kHz、-145 dBc/Hz@10 kHz) and high-sensitivity phase noise measurement system (-130 dBc/Hz@1 kHz、-168 dBc/Hz@10 kHz) in X-band is finished. Those high-level index has not been reported in China and is on the level with the best index reported in foreign literature.

Method to reduce excess noise of a detuned cavity for application in KAGRA

Ground-based gravitational-wave detectors are based on high precision laser interferometry. One promising technique to improve the detector’s sensitivity is the detuning of an optical cavity, which enhances the signal at around certain frequencies for target astronomical sources. The detuning, however, involves technical noise due to an asymmetry of the control sidebands, which includes photo-detector noise and oscillator-phase noise. Here, we introduce a solution to reduce the two kinds of excess noise using an amplitude-modulation sideband that compensates the asymmetry. The solution is planned to be implemented in the Japanese second-generation gravitational-wave detector KAGRA.

Photonic-delay homodyne technology for low-phase noise measurement

The sensitivity of photonic-delay homodyne phase noise measurement system is improved by using high-linear photodetector and low-phase noise amplifier in this paper. The phase noise model for microwave link is proposed and the sensitivity of photonic-delay based measurement system is analyzed with this theory model. Results show that phase noise sensitivity in this measurement system is −130dBc/Hz at 1kHz and −145dBc/Hz at 10kHz, and in my knowledge it is the highest sensitivity for photonic-delay homodyne technology without cross correlation.

An increase in the sensitivity of the saturated absorption method in the multimode regime

A possibility for an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio in the laser spectroscopy that is free of Doppler broadening and is based on the saturated absorption is considered. The application of the counter-propagating laser beams in the multimode regime is proposed. The number of atoms that effectively interact with the field, and, hence, the intensity of a narrow resonance in the line shape can be increased due to the interaction of the counterpropagating modes with different frequencies. It is demonstrated that, for the intrinsic photon noise, the signal-to-noise ratio can be increased by a factor of √N, where N is the number of modes. For the remaining noises (fluctuations of the radiation power, noise of photodetector, etc.), the signal-to-noise ratio can be increased by a factor of N.

An interferometric sensor for measuring small oscillations of torsional oscillators

An interferometric sensor for measuring the rotation angle of the plate of a mechanical torsional oscillator is described. The sensor is based on a Michelson interferometer, is compact, compensates for frequency and amplitude fluctuations of an optical-radiation source, and has a high sensitivity. The sensor is mainly designed to investigate fluctuations of the rotation angle in torsional oscillators. A sensitivity of ∼5 × 10−11 rad/√Hz that is limited by seismic noise, which acts on the torsional oscillator, is demonstrated at frequencies close to 60 Hz. The potential sensitivity of the sensor limited by photodetector noise is ∼10−11 rad/√Hz. The sensor can also be used in devices where it is necessary to measure small differential displacements of mirrors.

Research on Modulation Method and Characteristic Analysis of Faraday DC Optical Measurement System

The optical current transformer is an important content in smart grid research field. When the Faraday DC optical measurement system was used in DC current measurement, the low frequency noise caused by photo detector and measured signal were overlapped, which makes the measuring accuracy decrease. To solve this problem, the noise of photo detector is analyzed. Then, the frequency modulation is proposed for spectrum shifting. Furthermore, the principle of modulation method is deduced in formula, and the characteristics of deferent frequency are also analyzed. On this base, modulation signal source is designed. With LabVIEW program, the signal from modulation source is acquainted and analyzed. The results show that this modulation method can realize spectrum shifting and the designed signal source is able to generate waveform needed.

Computational ghost imaging for remote sensing

Computational ghost imaging is a structured-illumination active imager coupled with a single-pixel detector that has potential applications in remote sensing. Here we report on an architecture that acquires the two-dimensional spatial Fourier transform of the target object (which can be inverted to obtain a conventional image). We determine its image signature, resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio in the presence of practical constraints such as atmospheric turbulence, background radiation, and photodetector noise. We consider a bistatic imaging geometry and quantify the resolution impact of nonuniform Kolmogorov-spectrum turbulence along the propagation paths. We show that, in some cases, short-exposure intensity averaging can mitigate atmospheric-turbulence-induced resolution loss. Our analysis reveals some key performance differences between computational ghost imaging and conventional active imaging, and identifies scenarios in which theory predicts that the former will perform better than the latter.