The University of Jordan

EE 0943524 - Optical Communication and Laser

Problem Set IV-Optical Receiver:Photodetector

1. Consider an analog modulated optical signal P (t) = Po [1 + m s(t)] where, Po is the mean
optical power, m is the optical modulation index, and s(t) is the modulating (random)
signal.

(a) Show that when P (t) falls on a photo detector of responsivity <, the mean squared
signal current < i2s > is given by
< i2s >= Ip2 + < i2p >= <2 P02 + m2 <2 P02 < s2 (t) >

(b) If < = 0.9 and P0 = 1 mW, what is the value of the DC current Ip ?

(c) If m = 0.3 and s(t) = cos(100 π t), what is the value of the AC current ip ?

(d) What should be the minimum bandwidth of the optical receiver to detect the s(t) with-
out distortion?

2. An APD receiver has following parameters: dark current ID = 1 nA, leakage current IL = 1
1
nA, η = 0.85, M = 100, excess noise factor F = M 2 , RL = 104 , bandwidth is 10 kHz.
Suppose a sinusoidally varying 850 nm signal signal having modulation index m = 0.85
falls at the photodiode at room temperature (27o C). Plot the following terms in decibels
varying Po from −70 to 0 dBm.

(a) 10 Log(S/N )Q =< i2s > / < i2Q >.

(b) 10 Log(S/N )DB =< i2s > / < i2DB >.

(c) 10 Log(S/N )DS =< i2s > / < i2DS >.

(d) 10 Log(S/N )T =< i2s > / < i2T >.

3. Suppose an APD has has following parameters: dark current ID = 1 nA, leakage cur-
1
rent IL = 1 nA, η = 0.85, M = 100, excess noise factor F = M 2 , RL = 103 , bandwidth
is 10 kHz. Suppose a sinusoidally varying 850 nm signal signal having modulation in-
dex m = 0.85 falls at the photodiode at room temperature (27o C). Average optical
power Po = −50 dBm. Plot the value of the SNR as a function of M for 20 ≤ M ≤ 100.
At what value of M does the maximum SNR occurs?

1
4. You are assigned a task of designing an indoor fiber optic receiver. You have access to a PIN
photodiode and APD both operating at 1550 nm wavelength with 80% quantum efficiency.
1
APD has gain M = 100, excess noise factor F (M ) = M 2 . The receiver receives a SONET
C-48 NRZ bitstream (square pulse train) as shown in Figure 1. Here, digital ’0’ corresponds
to no power and digital ’1’ (A) corresponds to 2µW optical power. Your calculations show
that the load resistance of the receiver circuitry is approximately 1.38 KΩ. Perform design
calculations and decide if you will use PIN or APD in this receiver. What is the final SNR
of you design?
Repeat the calculations if A=2mW in the figure. Now you will use PIN or APD in this
receiver?Why?

Figure 1: RZ Signal