Optical Fiber Communications

(BECE308L )
Dr. Sangeetha R.G
Professor
School of Electronics Engineering (SENSE)

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Module :4 Optical Receivers (5)

Photodetector-PIN, APD, Receiver Design, Receiver Noise-

CNR&SNR), Receiver
Sensitivity, Quantum limit, Sensitivity Degradation, Receiver
Performance-Probability of error, Bit Error rate, Eye-Diagram.

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 Photodetectors
• 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)
• 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 Φ penetrates into a semiconductor, it will be
absorbed as it progresses through the material.
• If αs(λ) is the photon absorption coefficient at a wavelength λ,
the power level at a distance x into the material is

Absorbed photons trigger

photocurrent Ip in the
external circuitry
 pin energy-band diagram

Cut off wavelength:

hc 1.24 Cut off wavelength depends on the

c   μm
E g E g (eV ) band gap energy
• High field present in the depletion region causes the
carriers to separate and be collected across the
reverse-biased junction. This gives rise to a current
flow-Photocurrent
• On an average the charge carrier moves Ln and Lp
distances – diffusion length
• The time taken by electrons and holes to recombine
is known as carrier lifetime ζn and ζp
• Life times and diffusion lengths are related by
• Optical radiation is absorbed in the
semiconductor material is

• P0 - Incident optical power level

• - Optical power absorbed in a distance

• If the depletion region has a width W, then total

power absorbed in the distance
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 Quantum Efficiency
• The quantum efficiency η is the number of the
electron–hole carrier pairs generated per incident–
absorbed photon of energy hν 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 photo-
generated 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
 Avalanche Photodiode
• RAPD
• The average number of electron-hole pair created per unit
distance travelled is called ionization rate. α-electron
ionization β- hole ionization

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APD Vs PIN
 Responsivity ()
Quantum Efficiency () = number of e-h pairs
generated / number of incident photons
Ip / q Ip q
   mA/mW
P0 / h P0 h

APD’s have an internal gain M, hence

where, M = IM/Ip
IM : Mean multiplied current
 APD  PIN M M = 1 for PIN diodes
 Responsivity

hc
When λ<< λc absorption is low c 
When λ > λc; no absorption Eg
 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

Noise Sources

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 Quantum (Shot Noise)
Quantum noise arises due optical power fluctuation
because light is made up of discrete number of photons

2 2
iQ 2qI p BM F ( M )

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

2 2
Bulk Dark Current Noise i DB 2qI D BM F ( M )
ID: Dark Current

2
Surface Leakage iDS 2qI L B
Current Noise
(not multiplied by M) IL: Leakage Current
 Thermal Noise
The photodetector load resistor RL contributes to
thermal (Johnson) noise current

iT2 4 K BTB / RL

KB: Boltzmann’s 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
i p2 M 2
SNR 
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

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Noise Calculation Example
 Optical Receiver Operation
• Optical Receiver Operation
– Digital Signal Transmission
– Error Sources
– Receiver Configuration

• Digital Receiver Performance

– Probability of Error
– The Quantum Limit
 7.1 Optical Receiver Operation
Digital Signal Transmission
• The transmitted signal is a two-level
binary data stream consisting of either a 0
or a 1 in a bit period Tb.
• The simplest technique for sending binary
data is amplitude-shift keying, wherein a
voltage level is switched between on or
off values.
• The resultant signal wave thus consists of
a voltage pulse of amplitude V when a
binary 1 occurs and a zero-voltage-level
space when a binary 0 occurs.
Fig. 7-1: Signal path through an optical link
 Digital Signal Transmission
• An electric current i(t) can be used to modulate
directly an optical source to produce an optical
output power P(t).
• In the optical signal emerging from the transmitter,
a 1 is represented by a light pulse of duration Tb,
whereas a 0 is the absence of any light.
• The optical signal that gets coupled from the light
source to the fiber becomes attenuated and distorted
as it propagates along the fiber waveguide.
 Digital Signal Transmission
• Upon reaching the receiver, either a PIN or an APD converts the
optical signal back to an electrical format.

• A decision circuit compares the amplified signal in each time slot

with a threshold level.

• If the received signal level is greater than the threshold level, a 1

is said to have been received.

• If the voltage is below the threshold level, a 0 is assumed to have

been received.
 Error Sources
• Errors in the detection mechanism can arise from various noises
and disturbances associates with the signal detection system
• The two most common samples of the spontaneous fluctuations
are shot noise and thermal noise.
• Shot noise arises in electronic devices because of the discrete
nature of current flow in the device.
• Thermal noise arises from the random motion of electrons in a
conductor.
 Error Sources
• The random arrival rate of signal photons produces a
quantum (or shot) noise at the photo-detector.
• This noise is of particular importance for PIN receivers
that have large optical input levels and for APD receivers.
• When using an APD, an additional shot noise arises from
the statistical nature of the multiplication process. This
noise level increases with increasing avalanche gain M.
Noise sources
 Error Sources
• The primary photocurrent generated by the
photodiode is a time-varying Poisson process.
• If the detector is illuminated by an optical signal
P(t), then the average number of electron-hole pairs
generated in a time  is

• where  is the detector quantum efficiency, hv is

the photon energy, and E is the energy received in a
time interval .
 Error Sources
• The actual number of electron-hole pairs n that
are generated fluctuates from the average
according to the Poisson distribution

where Pr(n) is the probability that n electrons

are emitted in an interval .
 Error Sources
• A further error source is attributed to
intersymbol interference (ISI), which results
from pulse spreading in the optical fiber.
• In Fig. 7-3 the fraction of energy remaining in
the appropriate time slot is designated by , so
that 1- is the fraction of energy that has
spread into adjacent time slots.
 Receiver Configuration
• The binary digital pulse train incident on the
photo-detector can be described by

P(t) =  bnhp(t – nTb)

• Here, P(t) is the received optical power,

Tb is the bit period,
bn is an amplitude parameter representing
the n-th message digit,
and hp(t) is the received pulse shape.
Fig. 7-3: Pulse spreading
Fig. 7-5: Logic 0 and 1 probability distributions
 Probability of Error
The shapes of two signal pdf’s are shown in Fig. 7-5.
• These are
(7-16)
which is the probability that the equalizer output voltage
is less than v when a logical 1 pulse is sent,and
(7-17)

which is the probability that the output voltage exceeds v

when a logical 0 is transmitted.
 Probability of Error
• The different shapes of the two pdf’s in Fig. 7-
5 indicate that the noise power for a logical 0
is not the same as that for a logical 1.
• The function p(y|x) is the conditional
probability that the output voltage is y, given
that an x was transmitted.
 Probability of Error
• If the threshold voltage is vth then the error
probability Pe is defined as
Pe = aP1(vth) + bPo(vth)
• The weighting factors a and b are determined by the
a priori distribution of the data.
• For unbiased data with equal probability of 1 and 0
occurrences, a = b = 0.5.
• The problem to be solved now is to select the
decision threshold at that point where Pe is
minimum.
 Probability of Error
• Assume that the 0 and 1 pulses are equally likely, then,
using Eqs. (7-20) and (7-21), the BER or the error
probability Pe given by Eq. (7-18) becomes

• The approximation is obtained from the asymptotic

expansion of error function .
Here, the parameter Q is defined as
Q = (vth - boff)/off = (bon - vth)/on
Fig. 7-6: Noise variances
 Fig. 7-7:
BER versus Q factor
 Fig. 7-8:
BER vs SNR
 The Quantum Limit
• For an ideal photo-detector having unity quantum
efficiency and producing no dark current, it is
possible to find the minimum received optical
power required for a specific BER performance
in a digital system.
• This minimum received power level is known as
the quantum limit.
• Assume that an optical pulse of energy E falls on
the photo-detector in a time interval .
• This can be interpreted by the receiver as a 0
pulse if no electron-hole pairs are generated with
the pulse present.
 The Quantum Limit
• The probability that n = 0 electrons are
emitted in a time interval  is

Pr(0) = exp(- ~N)

where the average number of electron-hole
pairs, ~N
• Thus, for a given error probability Pr(0), we
can find the minimum energy E required at a
specific wavelength .
 The Quantum Limit
• Example 7-2:
A digital fiber optic link operating at 850-nm requires
a maximum BER of 10-9.
(a). The probability of error is
Pr(0) = exp(- ~N) = 10-9
Solving for ~N, we have ~N = 9.ln10 = 20.7 ~ 21.
Hence, an average of 21 photons per pulse is required for
this BER, and solving for E, we get
E = 20.7h/.
(b). Now let us find the minimum incident optical power Po
that must fall on the photo-detector to achieve a 10 -9 BER
at a data rate of 10 Mb/s for a simple binary-level signaling
scheme.
•If the detector quantum efficiency  = 1, then
E = Po = 20.7h = 20.7hc/,
where 1/ = B/2, B being the data rate.
•Solving for Po, we have
Po = 20.7hcB/2
20.7(6.626x10-34J.s)(3x108m/s)(10x106bits/s)
= -------------------------------------------------------------
2(0.85x10-6m)
= 24.2pW = -76.2 dBm.
 The Quantum Limit
• In practice, the sensitivity of most receivers is
around 20 dB higher than the quantum limit
because of various nonlinear distortions and
noise effects in the transmission link.
• When specifying quantum limit, one has to
careful to distinguish between average power
and peak power.
Eye Diagram