HgCdTe APDs for free space optical communications

Rothman, J.; Bleuet, Pierre; André, Luc; Abadie, Quentin; Bordot, Geoffroy; Bisotto, Sylvette; Audoit, G.; Nicolas, Jean-Alain; Dupont, B.; Rostaing, Jean-Pierre; Lasfargues, Gilles

doi:10.1117/12.2286474

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Besides, the bandwidth of the device is determined by the response time, which is mainly resultant of i) the diffusion time of minority carriers in the absorption region, ii) the transit time of carriers generated by the avalanche process in the multiplication region and iii) the RC time constant. A number of well-known infrared detector research institutions such as DRS and CEA/Leti have carried out in-depth theoretical and experimental research on the bandwidth of HgCdTe APD devices [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], and obtained focal plane devices with a bandwidth of 200 MHz~4 GHz [8], which have been successfully used in the lunar laser communication demonstration (LLCD) and is expected to open a new horizon of applications in quantum optics and deep space optical telecommunications [6][7][8][9]. In the earlier years, Emmons formulated the response time theory of avalanche photodiodes that the bandwidth of the transit-limited decreases as the gain increases when the gain (M) is more than the inverse of hole-electron ionization coefficient ratio (1/k) [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on high gain-bandwidth product mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes

Xie

Guo

Zhu

et al. 2023

Earth and Space: From Infrared to Terahertz (ESIT 2022)

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HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes (APD) have been demonstrated to be one of the most promising paths for low flux and high speed applications. The bandwidth of HgCdTe e-APD has been theoretically predicted to be independent of the gain, owed to its strongly dominant electron multiplication. However, when the photocurrent is high, a large number of electrons exists in the depletion region, and the electrical field in the depletion region might collapse due to the space charge effect, thus limiting the increase of the gain-bandwidth product. In this work, the structure of the device was optimized by simulation, and the effect of the light injection dose on the electric field and bandwidth of the device was studied. Finally, a mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe e-APD device whose bandwidth almost doesn't decrease with the increase of gain is fabricated. The response bandwidth of the APD is about 480MHz @ gain=625, corresponding to a gain-bandwidth product of 300GHz.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on high gain-bandwidth product mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes

Xie

Guo

Zhu

et al. 2023

Earth and Space: From Infrared to Terahertz (ESIT 2022)

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“…HgCdTe APDs enables linear detection of low number of photons, down to single photons, at high rate due their intrinsically high quantum efficiency, high linear avalanche gain, low excess noise and low impact of the APD gain on their temporal response [1]. These characteristics allows to increase sensitivity, speed and/or linearity that are of interest in applications such as free space optical communications, lidar and quantum optical information processing [2]- [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HgCdTe APD detector module for deep space optical communications

Rothman,

Pes,

Abergel

et al. 2023

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2022

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A 4-quadrant large area HgCdTe APD detector module have been developed and characterized in view of application in deep space optical communications. Single photon detection capacity has been demonstrated on each of the four channels of the detector module, associated with a bandwidth close to 400 MHz. The performance for pulse position modulation (ppm) has been estimated from the detection of strongly attenuated laser pulses and were found to be close to the system performance specifications given by ESA: the pulse detection probability in a time slot of 800 ps was measured to be higher about 90 % for a signal of 7 photons focused on the center on one channels, associated with a false alarm rate below 1 %, although the sensitivity of the full detector module was limited by a low quantum efficiency and a high dark count rate. With a 16-ary ppm modulation, this corresponds to a data rate of 320 Mbps at less than 2 photons per bit.

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“…This also implies that the detection rate is only limited by the bandwidth of the APD and the pre-amplifier circuit, meaning that detection rates in excess of 1 GHz can be achieved with such detectors, surpassing other single photon detection technologies by a factor 10 to 1000 [1,2]. Such high-count rates make HgCdTe APDs interesting candidates for high data rate classical free-space optical communications (FSO) [3][4][5], quantum communications [6], and astronomy [7]. Concerning their applications in long-distance free-space communications, previous use of detector modules based on linear-mode HgCdTe APDs include: a 2×8 pixel detector by DRS Technologies in the framework of the NASA's sponsored In-space Validation of Earth Science Technologies (InVEST) program [3,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reaching GHz single photon detection rates with HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes detectors

Pes

Rothman

Bleuet

et al. 2021

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2020

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In the present communication, the characterization results of an in-house developed four-quadrants detection module based on HgCdTe APDs and a Si-CMOS ROIC pre-amplifier is discussed. The module has been designed to be employed as high data rate ground-segment detector for 1.55 μm long-distance free-space optical communication links in the framework of a project funded by the European Space Agency. The detector is characterized by a multiplication gain in excess of M = 150, a ROIC input referred noise of Ne = 45 electrons rms and a measured bandwidth of BW = 450 MHz. These characteristics enable the linear-mode detection of meso-photonic states ranging from tens of photons per pulse down to the single-photon level at high count rates exceeding 500 MHz per quadrant (and 2 GHz if the signal is dispatched over all four-quadrants). For the present module, the performance for PPM and OOK modulation formats was estimated and its potentiality for long-distance free-space optical communications employing these modulation formats was validated. In particular, for the PPM format, a detection probability of 0.9 and a false alarm probability of 10 -2 , a minimum PPM slot width of 500 ps and a temporal jitter with a FWHM ~ 160 ps were estimated, for an incident photonic state with 10 photons/pulse. The potentiality of the detector for 625 Mbps OOK modulation format was also evaluated and compared with a quantum limited situation. In this case, a -3.9 dB penalty from the quantum limited BER was obtained. A new generation of detectors is currently in development, which is expected to further improve the performance.

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HgCdTe APDs for free space optical communications

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Research on high gain-bandwidth product mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes

Research on high gain-bandwidth product mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes

HgCdTe APD detector module for deep space optical communications

Reaching GHz single photon detection rates with HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes detectors

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