40 Gb/s photonic integrated receiver with -17 dBm sensitivity

We report on the design, fabrication and characterization of a novel 40 Gb/s optical receiver. The device consists of a high-speed waveguide photodiode monolithically integrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier to create a fully photonic receiver. We have achieved a back-to-back receiver sensitivity of -17 dBm for NRZ data transmission at 40 Gb/s. When used with an erbium doped fiber preamplifier a sensitivity of -32 dBm or 123 photons/bit has been realized for RZ transmission with -6 dBm input power at the receiver. The device has a small signal bandwidth of 39 GHz and a conversion gain of more than 800 Volts per Watt.