Limits to Maximum Absorption Length in Waveguide Photodiodes

Madison, Shannon M.; Klamkin, Jonathan; Oakley, D.C.; Napoleone, A.; Plant, Jason J.; Juodawlkis, Paul W.

doi:10.1109/jphot.2011.2160528

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It was determined that scattering results in phase noise several orders of magnitude above the shot noise limit. While the impact of distributed absorption was minimal in the device studied, other detector structures, such as waveguide detectors [19], may be more sensitive to distributed absorption. Since the excess noise factor increases more slowly than the microwave power with increased photocurrent, reducing the impact of the excess noise can be achieved with higher power optical pulses.…”

Section: Fig 2 (Color Onlinementioning

confidence: 93%

Broadband Noise Limit in the Photodetection of Ultralow Jitter Optical Pulses

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Applications with optical atomic clocks and precision timing often require the transfer of optical frequency references to the electrical domain with extremely high fidelity. Here we examine the impact of photocarrier scattering and distributed absorption on the photocurrent noise of high-speed photodiodes when detecting ultralow jitter optical pulses. Despite its small contribution to the total photocurrent, this excess noise can determine the phase noise and timing jitter of microwave signals generated by detecting ultrashort optical pulses. A Monte Carlo simulation of the photodetection process is used to quantitatively estimate the excess noise. Simulated phase noise on the 10 GHz harmonic of a photodetected pulse train shows good agreement with previous experimental data, leading to the conclusion that the lowest phase noise photonically generated microwave signals are limited by photocarrier scattering well above the quantum limit of the optical pulse train.

show abstract

Section: Fig 2 (Color Onlinementioning

confidence: 93%

Broadband Noise Limit in the Photodetection of Ultralow Jitter Optical Pulses

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In surface illuminated photodetectors the absorption length is sub-µm and excess phase noise due to distributed absorption is well below that of scattering [82]. However, waveguide detectors can have absorption distributed over several millimeters [90], with the possibility for more significant impact on the phase noise. To our knowledge this "distributed absorption phase noise" has not been experimentally verified.…”

Section: Shot Noise and Photocarrier Scatteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploiting shot noise correlations in the photodetection of ultrashort optical pulse trains

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present a frequency domain model of shot noise in the photodetection of ultrashort optical pulse trains using a time-varying analysis. Shot noise-limited photocurrent power spectral densities, signal-tonoise expressions, and shot noise spectral correlations are derived that explicitly include the finite response of the photodetector. It is shown that the strength of the spectral correlations in the shot noise depends on the optical pulse width, and that these correlations can create orders-of-magnitude imbalance between the shot noise-limited amplitude and phase noise of photonically generated microwave carriers. It is also shown that only by accounting for spectral correlations can shot noise be equated with the fundamental quantum limit in the detection of optical pulse-to-pulse timing jitter.

show abstract

“…In surface illuminated photodetectors the absorption length is sub‐µm and excess phase noise due to distributed absorption is well below that of scattering. [ 89 ] However, waveguide detectors can have absorption distributed over several millimeters, [ 97 ] with the possibility for more significant impact on the phase noise. To our knowledge this “distributed absorption phase noise” has not been experimentally verified.…”

Section: Photocurrent Noisementioning

confidence: 99%

The Photodetection of Ultrashort Optical Pulse Trains for Low Noise Microwave Signal Generation

Quinlan

2023

Laser & Photonics Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Electrical signals derived from optical sources have achieved record‐low levels of phase noise, and have demonstrated the highest frequency stability yet achieved in the microwave domain. Attaining such ultrastable phase and frequency performance requires high‐fidelity optical‐to‐electrical conversion, typically performed via a high‐speed photodiode. This paper reviews characteristics of the direct photodetection of optical pulses for the intent of generating high power, low phase noise microwave signals from optical sources. The two most popular types of photodiode detectors used for low noise microwave generation are discussed in terms of electrical pulse characteristics, achievable microwave power, and photodetector nonlinearities. Noise sources inherent to photodetection, such as shot noise, flicker noise, and photocarrier scattering are reviewed, and their impact on microwave phase fidelity is discussed. General guidelines for attaining the lowest noise possible from photodetection that balances power saturation, optical amplification, and amplitude‐to‐phase conversion are also presented.

show abstract

Limits to Maximum Absorption Length in Waveguide Photodiodes

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Broadband Noise Limit in the Photodetection of Ultralow Jitter Optical Pulses

Broadband Noise Limit in the Photodetection of Ultralow Jitter Optical Pulses

Exploiting shot noise correlations in the photodetection of ultrashort optical pulse trains

The Photodetection of Ultrashort Optical Pulse Trains for Low Noise Microwave Signal Generation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About