OPTICAL

DETECTORS
Submitted by -
DIVYA ( 21-803 )
PRABHPREET SINGH ( 21-809 )
CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Optical detection principle
3. Classification of optical detectors
4. Absorption
5. Direct - Indirect absorption
6. Sensitivity and Efficiency of optical Detectors
7. Photodetector
1 Introduction

Optical receivers and transmitters are of essential importance for the overall performance
of optical communication systems. The function of an optical detector is to convert the
optical signal in an electrical signal, which can then be further processed.
 Schematic sketch of an optical transmitter and receiver of an
optical communication system

The improvement on optical receiver and transmitter side is of major interest to network
operators, because less repeater are needed and the spacing between repeaters should be
more.
The following performance criteria of optical detectors are of major important for
applications in optical communication systems:

• Sensitivity has to be matched to the emission spectra of the optical transmitter • Linearity
(Linear relationship between the intensity and the electrical signal)
• High quantum efficiency / high spectral sensitivity
• Fast response time
• Stability of performance (temperature sensitivity)
• Reliability and Robustness
• Low Noise
• Lost Cost
2 Optical detection principle

● A Photon incident in or near depletion region which has energy, hf > Eg will excite
an electron from valence band into the conduction band. This process process creates
creates an electron electron – hole (carrier) (carrier) pair.
● Carrier pairs so generated are separated and swept under the influence of electric
field. This is known as displacement current (in excess of any reverse leakage
current)
3 Classification of optical detectors

In general, we can distinguish between three groups of optical detectors.

•Diodes

•Pn-diodes

•Pin diodes

•Avalanche photodiodes

•Schottky diodes

•Photoconductors

•Phototransistors
4 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 α in the medium.
● The absorption coefficient is strongly wavelength dependent.
The photocurrent caused by the absorption of photons can be calculated by

where ,

P 0 is the optical power, λ is the wavelength of the incident light, h is the Planck constant,
and e is the elementary charge. The term R accounts for the reflection at the interface of
the detector and air, (1-R) is the light absorbed in the detector and the exponential term
considers the absorption in the medium. d is the thickness of the absorber.
Optical absorption for some common
semiconductor photodiode materials
(silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide,
indium gallium arsenide and indium
gallium arsenide phosphide).
Ref.: J.M. Senior, Optical Fiber
Communications
5 Direct - Indirect absorption

We can distinguish the materials in terms of direct and indirect semiconductor materials.
● In a direct band gap semiconductor, maximum energy level of the valence band
aligns with the minimum energy level of the conduction band with respect to
momentum.
● In an indirect band gap semiconductor, the maximum energy level of the valence
band are misaligned with the minimum energy level of the conduction band with
respect to momentum.
a) Electron recombination and the
associated photon emission for a
direct-bandgap material; (b) electron
recombination for indirect-bandgap
materials requires a photon of
energy Eph and momentum kph.
5.1 Direct - Indirect absorption - Si , Ge

Silicon and germanium absorb light by both direct and indirect optical transitions.
Indirect absorption requires the assistance of a photon so that momentum as well as
energy is conserved.This makes the transition probability less likely for indirect
absorption than for direct absorption where no photon is involved.
Based on the absorption coefficient you can see what material is suitable for what kind of
wavelength region.
For example,
In the case of silicon the optical bandgap is 1.14eV, which corresponds to a wavelength of
1100 nm. Up to 1100 nm silicon is still absorbing even though the absorption coefficient
for wavelength >1000 nm is already relatively low. That means silicon is not suitable as an
optical detector for an DWDM system which operates at a wavelength of 1550nm. Silicon
is transparent for such a wavelength.
The behavior of germanium is different. The optical band gap of germanium is 0.67eV,
which corresponds to a cut-off wavelength of more than 1850 nm. However, the
absorption coefficient is already very low for such a high wavelength. Germanium
detectors are reasonable sensitive up to a wavelength of 1600 nm. Therefore, germanium
can be (theoretically) used as an optical detector for DWDM systems. However, due to the
small optical bandgap the leakage current of germanium diodes is very high.
Overview of the bandgaps of some
photodiode materials.
Ref.: J.M. Senior, Optical Fiber
Communications
6 Sensitivity and Efficiency of optical Detectors
Like we determined the efficiency of the light emitting devices we can determine the
(quantum) efficiency of detectors.

6.1 The Quantum efficiency

The quantum efficiency is defined by:

One of the major factors which influences the quantum efficiency is the absorption
coefficient. The quantum efficiency is generally below unity, but can be for its maximum very
close to unity.
6.2 Spectral responsivity

The quantum efficiency does not take into account the photon energy.

Therefore, the responsibility can be very helpful to describe the spectral sensitivity of the
devices. The spectral responsivity is given by:

where Iph it the photocurrent and P 0 is the incident optical power. The unit of the spectral
responsivity is A/W. The spectral sensitivity can be derived from the quantum efficiency
by:
It can be seen that the responsivity is
increasing with the wavelength of the
incident photons. The difference between
the ideal and the real diode can be
explained by thermal losses for lower
wavelengths and a reduced absorption
coefficient for higher wavelengths.

Responsivity of an ideal and a real silicon

photodiode. Ref.: J.M. Senior, Optical
Fiber Communications
 7 Photodetector
A photodetector is a device which absorbs light and converts the optical energy to
measurable electric current. Detectors are classified as
1. Thermal detectors : When light falls on the device, it raises its temperature, which, in
turn, changes the electrical properties of the device material, like its electrical
conductivity. Examples of thermal detectors are thermopile (which is a series of
thermocouples), pyroelectric detector etc.
2. Photon detectors : Photon detectors work on the principle of conversion of photons to
electrons. Such detectors are based on the rate of absorption of photons rather than on
the rate of energy absorption. However, a device may absorb photons only if the energy
of incident photons is above a certain minimum threshold. Photon detectors, in terms
of the technology, could be based on
● Semiconductors - e.g. photodiodes
● Vacuum tubes - e.g. photomultipliers
Photodiode symbol
7.1 Semiconductor photodetectors

Semiconductor photodetectors can be broadly classified into two categories – those

without internal gain and those with internal gain.
● Photodetectors without internal gain include p–n photodiodes, p–i–n
photodetectors, Schottky barrier photodetectors, and metal–semiconductor–metal
photodetectors (MSM-PDs).
● Photodetectors with internal gain include photoconductors, phototransistors, and
avalanche photodetectors (APDs).
Photodetectors without internal gain
7.1.1 PN junction photodiode
PN junction photodiodes are the first form of photodiodes. They are the most
widely used photodiodes before the development of PIN photodiodes.

Working :

● When external light energy is supplied to the p-n junction photodiode, the
valence electrons in the depletion region gains energy.
● If the light energy applied to the photodiode is greater the band-gap of
semiconductor material, the valence electrons gain enough energy and break
bonding with the parent atom.
● The valence electron which breaks bonding with the parent atom will become
free electron.
● When the valence electron leave the valence shell an empty space is created
in the valence shell at which valence electron left. This empty space in the
valence shell is called a hole. Thus, both free electrons and holes are
generated as pairs.
● The mechanism of generating electron-hole pair by using light energy is known
as the inner photoelectric effect.
● The minority carriers in the depletion region experience force due to the
depletion region electric field and the external electric field. For example, free
electrons in the depletion region experience repulsive and attractive force from
the negative and positive ions present at the edge of depletion region at p-side
and n-side. As a result, free electrons move towards the n region. When the
free electrons reaches n region, they are attracted towards the positive
terminals of the battery.
 ● In the similar way, holes move in opposite direction.
● The strong depletion region electric field and the external electric field increase the
drift velocity of the free electrons. Because of this high drift velocity, the minority
carriers (free electrons and holes) generated in the depletion region will cross the p-n
junction before they recombine with atoms. As a result, the minority carrier current
increases.
● When no light is applied to the reverse bias photodiode, it carries a small reverse
current due to external voltage. This small electric current under the absence of light
is called dark current. It is denoted by I λ.

In a photodiode, reverse current is independent of reverse bias voltage. Reverse current is

mostly depends on the light intensity.
In photodiodes, most of the electric current is carried by the charge carriers generated in
the depletion region because the charge carriers in depletion region has high drift velocity
and low recombination rate whereas the charge carriers in n-side or p-side has low drift
velocity and high recombination rate. The electric current generated in the photodiode due
to the application of light is called photocurrent.

The total current through the photodiode is the sum of the dark current and the
photocurrent. The dark current must be reduced to increase the sensitivity of the device.

The electric current flowing through a photodiode is directly proportional to the

incident number of photons.
7.1.2 PIN photodiode

The PIN photodiode is similar to the P-N Junction with one major difference. Instead of
placing the P and N layers together to create a depletion region, an intrinsic layer is placed
between the two doped layers. This layer is shown in Figure :
This intrinsic layer is highly resistive and increases the electric field strength in the
photodiode. There are many benefits to the added intrinsic layer because the depletion
region is greatly increased.

The capacitance of the junction is decreased, and so the speed of the photodiode increased.
The increased layer also allows for a larger volume of photon to electron-hole conversion
and higher Quantum Efficiency.
I-V Curve of Photodiodes.
I0 is Dark Current. IP is
photocurrent. P shows
current at different light
levels (P0 is no incident
light).