Measurement of intermodulation distortion in optical diodes

A measurement technique has been developed to directly determine the output two-tone, third-order intercept of microwave frequency p-i-n optical detector diodes. This method has been used to determine the bias dependence and frequency dependence of output third-order intercept for a p-i-n diode. It has been found that the third-order intercept increases monotonically with increasing reverse bias and decreases with increasing frequency. The maximum measurable output third-order intercept for a p-i-n diode has been found to be in excess of 10 dBm at 2 GHz.<
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