VCSEL and Photodiode Proton Test Results for an Optical Communications Link

Proton irradiation results, including dose and single-event effects, for two vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) diodes and a matching photodiode are presented. The optical components are part of a space instrument communications link for which the bit error rate was also measured during proton beam irradiation. A high-level description of the link hardware design and associated Manchester coding scheme is presented along with the beam test results.