Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Detectors
Danson Njue
Recap
Optical Transmitter
The starting point of the optical communication system is the optical
transmitter where the electrical signal convert to the optical signal by
modulating the optical source. This is done using an electronic circuit
known as the driving circuit.
The most common devices used as the light source in optical
transmitters are the light emitting diode (LED) and the laser diode (LD)
These devices are mounted in a package that enables an optical fiber to
be placed in very close proximity to the light emitting region in order to
couple as much light as possible into the fiber.
Depending on the nature of the modulating signal, the resulting
modulated light may be turned on-and-off or may be linearly varied in
intensity between two predetermined levels
Optical sources
The basic requirement for light sources in optical communication
depends on the intended application (long-haul, short-haul). The main
features of the light source are; Power: Source power must be sufficiently high so that the received
signal is detectable
Speed: The source must be suitable for modulation at the desired
rate
Line-width: The source must have a narrow spectral line width to
minimize the effects of chromatic dispersion in the fibre
Noise: The source must be free of random fluctuations
Others include ruggedness, insensitivity to environmental
conditions, reliability, low cost and long lifetime
Optical sources
Wideband continuous
spectra sources
(Incandescent Lamps)
Monochromatic incoherent
sources (Light Emitting
Diodes - LED)
Monochromatic coherent
sources (Light Amplification
by Stimulated Emission of
Radiation - LASER)
The most commonly used sources are LED and Lasers
Edge Emitter
More complex and expensive device but offers high output power
levels and high speed performance
The output power is high because the emitting spot is very small,
typically 30-50 m, allowing good coupling efficiency to similarly
sized optical fibers.
LED Structures
Surface Emitter
Comparatively simple structure, relatively inexpensive, offer lowto-moderate output power levels, and are capable of low-tomoderate operating speeds.
Optical output power is as high or higher than the edge-emitting
LED, since the emitting area is large, causing poor coupling
efficiency to the optical fiber.
Surface-emitting LEDs are almost perfect Lambertian emitters.
This means that they emit light in all directions.
*Check on Lambert cosine law
The main disadvantage with surface emitting is their relatively
broader linewidth hence high dispersion
Characteristics of LEDs
There are five major characteristics of LED
Peak wavelength
Spectral Width
Emission pattern
Power
Speed
Characteristics of LEDs
Peak wavelength :The wavelength at which the source
emits the most power. It should be matched to the
wavelengths that are transmitted with the least
attenuation through optical fiber. The most common peak
wavelength are 780, 850, and 1310 nm.
Spectral width: Ideally, all the light emitted from an LED
would be at the peak wavelength, but in practice the light
is emitted in a range of wavelengths centered at the peak
wavelength. This range is called the spectral width of the
source.
Characteristics of LEDs
Emission Pattern: The pattern of emitted light affects the
amount of light that can be coupled into the optical fiber.
The size of the emitting region should be similar to the
diameter of the fiber core.
Power: Usually achieved by coupling as much of a sources
power into the fiber as possible. The key requirement is
that the output power of the source be strong enough to
provide sufficient power to the detector at the receiving
end, considering fiber attenuation, coupling losses and
other system constraints. In general, LEDs are less powerful
than lasers.
Characteristics of LEDs
Speed: A source should turn on and off fast enough to
meet the bandwidth limits of the system. The speed is
given according to a sources Rise or fall time, the time
required to go from 10% to 90% of peak power. LEDs have
slower rise and fall times than lasers.
Linearity: Linearity represents the degree to which the
optical output is directly proportional to the electrical
current input. Most light sources give little or no attention
to linearity, making them usable only for digital
applications. Analog applications require close attention to
linearity. Nonlinearity in LEDs causes harmonic distortion in
the analog signal that is transmitted over an analog fiber
optic link.
LED materials
There are many material in
construct LED, for example
GaAlAs (gallium aluminum
arsenide) for short-wavelength
devices.
Long-wavelength devices
generally incorporate InGaAsP
(indium gallium arsenide
phosphide).
These material gives different
energy gap as shown in table
below
Different material also will gives
different wavelength for different
application
Material
Wavelength
(nm)
Si
1.17
1067
Ge
0.775
1610
GaAs
1.424
876
InP
1.35
924
InGaAs
0.75-1.24
1664-1006
AlGaAs
1.42-1.92
879-650
InGaAsP
0.75-1.35
1664-924
LEDs vs Lasers
LEDs are generally more reliable than lasers, but both
sources will degrade over time.
This degradation can be caused by heat generated by the
source and uneven current densities. LEDs are easier to use
than lasers.
The light radiate from LED is incoherent light where there
are no optical cavity.
The output radiation has a broad spectral width, since the
emitted photon energies ranges over the range the energy
Compared to the LED, laser diode is highly intense and
power efficient. LED need 150mA of current to achieve
power radiate at 1mW but laser diode only need 10mA
current to achieve same power level.
Optical Detectors
A fiber optic receiver is an
electro-optic device that
accepts optical signals from an
optical fiber and converts them
into electrical signals.
An optical receiver consists of :
-Optical detector
-Low-noise amplifier
-Other circuitry.
Optical detectors convert
optical power to electrical
current at the receiver
Photo conductors
Photo transistors
Absorption
The absorption of a photon produces an electron hole-pair and thus a
photocurrent. The absorption of the photons depends on the absorption
coefficient in the medium, which depends on wavelength of the photon
The photocurrent caused by the absorption of photons is given by;
Spectral Responsivity
Describe the spectral sensitivity of the devices. The spectral
responsivity is given by:
Assignment 1
Write short notes on the different types of
photo detectors, clearly outlining the principle
of operation, and advantages and
disadvantages