Optical receivers for wide band data transmission systems

Optical receiver designs for digital fiber data transmission systems operating with Gb/s data rates in the 800-1500-nm wavelength region have been investigated. The tradeoffs among conflicting receiver design requirements are considered in detail. The state-of-the-art performance of photodetectors and low noise amplifiers is discussed. Present receiver performance data, such as sensitivity, dynamic range, bit rate, and bit pattern dependencies, as a function of the bit rate in the 0.01-8 Gb/s data rate range are reviewed. The highest experimental sensitivities have been obtained with InGaAs APDs (avalanche photodiodes) and high-impedance GaAs FET (field-effect transistor) preamplifiers.<
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