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December, 2002 EEEL Researchers Characterize High-speed Photoreceiver to 110 GHz |
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Tracy Clement, Dylan Williams, Paul Hale, and Nita Morgan, EEEL researchers in the Optoelectronics and RF Technology Divisions, have demonstrated that they can accurately characterize the modulation response (magnitude and phase) of a commercially available photoreceiver to frequencies as high as 110 GHz, nearly three times the bit rate of emerging 40 Gb/s optical communication systems. Measurement of the modulation response of a receiver over a frequency range much larger than its bandwidth is necessary for accurately modeling its response in the time-domain, providing critical information for digital communications systems.
The EEEL researchers have developed an electro-optic sampling system to sample high-speed electrical waveforms on a coplanar waveguide with ultrashort laser pulses via the electro-optic effect. Standard microwave techniques are used to calibrate the response of a photoreceiver at its 1 mm electrical port, which is physically removed from the sampling plane. The frequency range of the calibration is limited only by the 1 mm coaxial connectors. The characterized photoreceiver had a bandwidth of about 80 GHz; the signal to noise ratio of the measurement was greater than 150:1 at 110 GHz. A summary of the work has been submitted to the annual meeting of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society.
Contact:
Paul D. Hale, (303) 497-5367, |