Optical Receivers

Theory and Operation

Xavier Fernando
Ryerson Communications Lab
http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~fernando

Photo Detectors
Optical receivers convert optical signal (light)
to electrical signal (current/voltage)
Hence referred O/E Converter

Photodetector is the fundamental element of

optical receiver, followed by amplifiers and
signal conditioning circuitry
There are several photodetector types:
Photodiodes, Phototransistors, Photon multipliers,
Photo-resistors etc.

Requirements
Compatible physical dimensions (small size)
Low sensitivity (high responsivity) at the
desired wavelength and low responsivity
elsewhere wavelength selectivity
Low noise and high gain
Fast response time high bandwidth
Insensitive to temperature variations
Long operating life and low cost

Photodiodes
Photodiodes meet most the requirements, hence
widely used as photo detectors.
Positive-Intrinsic-Negative (pin) photodiode
No internal gain, robust detector

Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)

Advanced version with internal gain M due to self
multiplication process
Photodiodes are sufficiently reverse biased during normal
operation no current flow without illumination, the
intrinsic region is fully depleted of carriers

Physical Principles of
Photodiodes
As a photon flux penetrates into a semiconductor, it will be
absorbed as it progresses through the material.
If s() is the photon absorption coefficient at a wavelength ,
the power level at a distance x into the material is

Absorbed photons
trigger photocurrent
Ip in the external
circuitry

Examples of Photon
Absorption

pin energy-band diagram

Cut off wavelength:

hc
1.24
c

m
E g E g (eV )

Cut off wavelength depends on the

band gap energy

Quantum Efficiency
The quantum efficiency is the number of the
electronhole carrier pairs generated per incident
absorbed photon of energy h and is given by

Ip is the photocurrent generated by a steady-state

optical power Pin incident on the photodetector.

Avalanche Photodiode (APD)

APD has an internal gain M, which is obtained by
having a high electric field that energizes photogenerated electrons.
These electrons ionize bound electrons in the
valence band upon colliding with them which is
known as impact ionization
The newly generated electrons and holes are also
accelerated by the high electric field and gain
energy to cause further impact ionization
This phenomena is the avalanche effect

APD Vs PIN

Responsivity ()
Quantum Efficiency () = number of e-h pairs
generated / number of incident photons

P0 h
Ip

Ip / q
P0 / h

APDs have an internal gain M, hence

APD PIN M where, M = IM/Ip

IM : Mean multiplied current

M = 1 for PIN diodes

mA/mW

Responsivity

When << c absorption is low

When > c; no absorption

hc
c
Eg

Light Absorption Coefficient

The upper cutoff
wavelength is determined
by the bandgap energy Eg
of the material.
At lower-wavelength
end, the photo response
diminishes due to low
absorption (very large
values of s).

Photodetector Noise
In fiber optic communication systems, the photodiode is
generally required to detect very weak optical signals.
Detection of weak optical signals requires that the
photodetector and its amplification circuitry be optimized to
maintain a given signal-to-noise ratio.
The power signal-to-noise ratio S/N (also designated by SNR)
at the output of an optical receiver is defined by

SNR Can NOT be improved by amplification

Notation: Detector Current

The direct current value is denoted by, IP (capitol main
entry and capital suffix).
The time varying (either randomly or periodically) current
with a zero mean is denoted by, ip (small main entry and
small suffix).
Therefore, the total current Ip is the sum of the DC
component IP and the AC component ip .

I P I p ip
T /2

2
p

1
2
LimT
i p (t )dt

T T / 2

Quantum (Shot Noise)

Quantum noise arises due optical power fluctuation
because light is made up of discrete number of photons
2
Q

2qI p BM F ( M )
2

F(M): APD Noise Figure F(M) ~= Mx (0 x 1)

Ip: Mean Detected Current
B = Bandwidth
q: Charge of an electron

Dark/Leakage Current Noise

There will be some (dark and leakage ) current without any
incident light. This current generates two types of noise

Bulk Dark Current Noise

2
DB

2qI D BM F ( M )
2

ID: Dark Current

Surface Leakage
Current Noise
(not multiplied by M)

2
iDS
2qI L B

IL: Leakage Current

Thermal Noise
The photodetector load resistor RL contributes to
thermal (Johnson) noise current

iT2 4 K BTB / RL
KB: Boltzmanns constant = 1.38054 X 10(-23) J/K
T is the absolute Temperature
Quantum and Thermal are the significant noise
mechanisms in all optical receivers
RIN (Relative Intensity Noise) will also appear in
analog links

Signal to Noise Ratio

Detected current = AC (ip) + DC (Ip)
Signal Power = <ip2>M2
SNR

i p2 M 2
2q( I p I D ) M 2 F ( M ) B 2qI L B 4k BTB / RL

Typically not all the noise terms will have equal weight.
Often thermal and quantum noise are the most significant.

Noise Calculation Example

Limiting Cases for SNR

When the optical signal power is relatively high, then the shot
noise power is much greater than the thermal noise power. In
this case the SNR is called shot-noise or quantum noise
limited.
When the optical signal power is low, then thermal noise
usually dominates over the shot noise. In this case the SNR is
referred to as being thermal-noise limited.

Limiting Cases of SNR

In the shot current limited case the SNR is:
SNR

i p2
2q ( I p ) F ( M ) B

For analog links, there will be RIN (Relative

Intensity Noise) as well
SNR

i p2 M 2
2q( I p I D ) M 2 F ( M ) 4k BT / RL ( RIN ) I p2 B

Typical SNR vs. Received Power

Note, APD
has an
advantage
only at low
received
power levels

Noise-Equivalent Power
The sensitivity of a photodetector is describable in terms of the
minimum detectable optical power to have SNR = 1.
This optical power is the noise equivalent power or NEP.
Example: Consider the thermal-noise limited case for a pin
photodiode. Then
To find the NEP, set the SNR = 1 and solve for P:

Response Time in pin photodiode

Transit time, td and carrier drift velocity vd are related by

t d w / vd

For a high speed Si PD, td = 0.1 ns

Rise and fall times

Photodiode has uneven rise and fall times depending on:

1. Absorption coefficient s() and

A
o
r
Cj
2. Junction Capacitance Cj

Junction Capacitance

A
o
r
Cj
w
o = 8.8542 x 10(-12) F/m; free space permittivity
r = the semiconductor dielectric constant
A = the diffusion layer (photo sensitive) area
w = width of the depletion layer

Large area photo detectors have large junction

capacitance hence small bandwidth (low speed)
A concern in free space optical receivers

Various pulse responses

Pulse response is a complex function of absorption coefficient

and junction capacitance

Comparisons of pin Photodiodes

NOTE: The values were derived from various

vendor data sheets and from performance
numbers reported in the literature. They are
guidelines for comparison purposes.

Comparisons of APDs

NOTE: The values were derived from various vendor

data sheets and from performance numbers
reported in the literature. They are guidelines for
comparison purposes only.

Part B

OPTICAL RECEIVER

Signal Path through an Optical Link

Fundamental Receiver Operation

The first receiver element is a pin or an avalanche photodiode, which
produces an electric current proportional to the received power level.
Since this electric current typically is very weak, a front-end amplifier
boosts it to a level that can be used by the following electronics.
After being amplified, the signal passes through a low-pass filter to reduce
the noise that is outside of the signal bandwidth.
The also filter can reshape (equalize) the pulses that have become distorted
as they traveled through the fiber.
Together with a clock (timing) recovery circuit, a decision circuit decides
whether a 1 or 0 pulse was received,

Optical receiver schematic

Bandwidth of the front end:

CT: Total Capacitance = Cd+Ca
RT: Total Resistance = Rb // Ra
Try Example 6.7 in Keiser

B 1 2 RT CT

Noise Sources in a Receiver

The term noise describes unwanted components of an electric signal that tend to
disturb the transmission and processing of the signal
The random arrival rate of signal photons produces quantum (shot) noise
Dark current comes from thermally generated eh pairs in the pn junction
Additional shot noise arises from the statistical nature of the APD process
Thermal noises arise from the random motion of electrons in the detector
load resistor and in the amplifier electronics

Probability of Error (BER)

BER is the ratio of erroneous bits to correct bits
A simple way to measure the error rate in a digital data stream
is to divide the number Ne of errors occurring over a certain
time interval t by the number Nt of pulses (ones and zeros)
transmitted during this interval.
This is the bit-error rate (BER)
Here B is the bit rate.
Typical error rates for optical fiber telecom systems range from
109 to 1012 (compared to 10-6 for wireless systems)
The error rate depends on the signal-to-noise ratio at the
receiver (the ratio of signal power to noise power).

Logic 0 and 1 probability distributions

Pe

1
2

P1 (Vth ) P0 (Vth )

Asymmetric distributions
Select Vth to minimize Pe

P0 (Vth ) p ( y / 0)dy
Vth

P1 (Vth )

Vth

p( y /1)dy

Deciding Threshold Voltage

Probability of error assuming P
e
Equal ones and zeros
Where,

1
2

P1 (Vth ) P0 (Vth )

P0 (Vth ) p ( y / 0)dy
Vth

P1 (Vth )

Vth

p ( y /1)dy

Depends on the noise variance at on/off levels and the

Threshold voltage Vth that is decided to minimize the Pe

Question: Do you think Vth = [Von + Voff] ?

Derived BER Expression

A simple estimation of the BER can be calculated by assuming the
equalizer output is a gaussian random variable.
Let the mean and variance of the gaussian output for a 1 pulse be bon
and 2on, respectively, and boff and 2off for a 0 pulse.
If the probabilities of 0 and 1 pulses are equally likely, the bit error
rate or the error probability Pe becomes

Probability of Error Calculation

The factor Q is widely used to specify receiver performance, since it
is related to the SNR required to achieve a specific BER.
There exists a narrow range of SNR above which the error rate is
tolerable and below which a highly unacceptable number of errors
occur. The SNR at which this transition occurs is called the threshold
level.

BER as a Function of SNR

BER as a function of SNR when the standard deviations are equal
(on = off) and when boff = 0

Receiver Sensitivity
A specific minimum average optical power level must arrive at
the photodetector to achieve a desired BER at a given data rate.
The value of this minimum power level is called the receiver
sensitivity.
Assuming there is no optical power in a received zero pulse,
then the receiver sensitivity is

Where, including an amplifier noise

figure Fn, the thermal noise current
variance is

Receiver Sensitivity Calculation

The receiver sensitivity as a function of bit rate will change for a given
photodiode depending on values of parameters such as wavelength,
APD gain, and noise figure.

The Quantum Limit

The minimum received optical power required for a specific bit-error rate
performance in a digital system.
This power level is called the quantum limit, since all system parameters
are assumed ideal and the performance is limited only by the detection
statistics.

Eye Diagrams
Eye pattern measurements are made in the time domain and
immediately show the effects of waveform distortion on the
display screen of standard BER test equipment.
The eye opening width defines the time interval over which signals can
be sampled without interference from adjacent pulses (ISI).
The best sampling time is at the height of the largest eye opening.
The eye opening height shows the noise margin or immunity to noise.
The rate at which the eye closes gives the sensitivity to timing errors.
The rise time is the interval between the 10 and 90% rising-edge points

Stressed Eye Tests

The IEEE 802.3ae spec for testing 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) devices
describes performance measures using a degraded signal.
This stressed eye test examines the worst-case condition of a poor
extinction ratio plus multiple stresses, ISI or vertical eye closure,
sinusoidal interference, and sinusoidal jitter.
The test assumes that all different possible signal impairments will close
the eye down to a diamond shaped area (0.10 and 0.25 of the full pattern
height).
If the eye opening is greater than this area, the receiver being tested is
expected to operate properly in an actual fielded system.
The inclusion of all possible signal
distortion effects results in a
stressed eye with only a small
diamond-shaped opening
46

Architecture of a Typical PON

A passive optical network (PON) connects switching equipment in a

central office (CO) with N service subscribers
Digitized voice and data are sent downstream from the CO to customers
over an optical link by using a 1490-nm wavelength.
The upstream (customer to central office) return path for the data and voice
uses a 1310-nm wavelength.

Burst-Mode Receivers

The amplitude and phase of packets received in successive time slots from
different user locations can vary widely from packet to packet.
If the fiber attenuation is 0.5 dB/km, there is a 10-dB difference in the
signal amplitudes from the closest and farthest users.
If there are additional optical components in one of the transmission paths,
then the signal levels arriving at the OLT could vary up to 20 dB.
A fast-responding burst-mode receiver with high sensitivity is needed
The guard time
provides a
sufficient delay
time to prevent
collisions
between
successive
packets that
may come from
different ONTs.