EE 230: Optical Fiber Communication

Lecture 12
Receivers

From the movie

Warriors of the Net

Receiver Functional Block Diagram

Fiber-Optic Communications Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner

Receiver Types
+Bias

+Bias

+Bias

Is

Is

Is
Output

RL
50

Output

Output

RL
Amplifier

Rf

Ct

Ct
Amplifier

Equalizer

Amplifier

Low Impedance

High Impedance

Transimpedance

Low Sensitivity
Easily Made
Wide Band

Requires Equalizer for high BW

High Sensitivity
Low Dynamic Range
Careful Equalizer Placement Required

High Dynamic Range

High Sensitivity
Stability Problems
Difficult to equalize

Equivalent Circuits of an Optical

Receiver

High Impedance Design

Transimpedance Design

Transimpedance with Automatic Gain Control

Fiber-Optic Communications Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner

Receiver Noise Sources

Photodetector without gain

Photon Noise
Also called shot noise or
Quantum noise, described by
poisson statistics
Photoelectron Noise
Randomness of photodetection
process leads to noise
Gain Noise
eg. gain process in APDs or
EDFAs is noisy
Receiver Circuit noise
Resistors and transistors in the
the electrical amplifier contribute
Photodetector with gain (APD)
to circuit noise

Johnson noise (Gaussian and white)

Vn
Noise Power=4kTB
R

in2 R

Frequency

4kTB

Noise Power

Vrms 4kTRB

Shot noise (Gaussian and white)

rms noise current in 2

1/ 2

2qIB

1/f noise

spectral density=

K
f

V 2 /Hz

1/ 2
Frequency

Noise Power

irms

Noise Power

Noise

1/f noise

Fc

for FETs
Frequency
4kT
K=
fc
gm
where fc is the FET corner frequency and is the channel noise factor

Johnson (thermal) Noise

Noise in a resistor can be modeled as due to a
noiseless resistor in parallel with a noise current
source

The variance of the noise current source is given by:

s i2 = i 2

4kBTB
R

Where kB is Boltzman's constant

T is the Temperature in Kelvins
B is the bandwidth in Hz (not bits/sec)

Photodetection noise
The electric current in a photodetector
circuit is composed of a superposition of
the electrical pulses associated with
each photoelectron

Noise in photodetector

The variation of this current is called

shot noise

If the photoelectrons are multiplied by a gain

mechanism then variations in the gain
mechanism give rise to an additional
variation in the current pulses. This variation
provides an additional source of noise, gain
noise

Noise in APD

Circuit Noise

Signal to Noise Ratio

Signal to noise Ratio (SNR) as a function of the
average number of photo electrons per receiver
resolution time for a photo diode receiver at two
different values of the circuit noise

Signal to noise Ratio (SNR) as a function of the

average number of photoelectrons per receiver
resolution time for a photo diode receiver and an
APD receiver with mean gain G=100 and an excess
noise factor F=2
At low photon fluxes the APD receiver has a better
SNR. At high fluxes the photodiode receiver has
lower noise

Dependence of SNR on APD

Gain
Curves are parameterized by
k, the ionization ratio
between holes and electrons
Plotted for an average
detected photon flux of 1000
and constant circuit noise

Receiver SNR vs Bandwidth

Double logarithmic plot showing the receiver bandwidth dependence of the

SNR for a number of different amplifier types

Basic Feedback Configuration

Ii

Is

A Vi +
Is

If

Ri

Ro

Parallel Current Feedback

Lowers Input Impedance
is i f ii

Vo

V
is AVi i
Ri
Z in

Vi
Ri

is 1 Rm

Parallel Voltage Sense:

Voltage Measured and held
Constant
=> Low Output Impedance
Zo

Vtest
Ro
Ro

I test 1 ARi 1 Rm

Stabilizes Transimpedance Gain

Vo Aii Ri
ii is i f is Vo
Vo ARi is Vo
Zt

Vo
ARi
Rm

is 1 ARi 1 Rm

Ii

ZtIi +
Zi
-

Zo

Transimpedance Amplifier
Design
i

Zi

Output Voltage
Proportional to
Input current

Zero
Input
Impedance
Vi

A Vi +
Ri

Ro

Typical amplifier model

With generalized input impedance
And Thevenin equivalent output

is

+
Vi
-

A Vi +
Ri
-

Vo AVi ARi ii
Calculation of
Openloop transimpedance gain: Rm V ARi Rm
is

Ro

Vo

Transimpedance Amplifier Design

Example
Vcc1

Vcc2

Controls open loop gain

of amplifier, Reduce to decrease
Rc
peaking
Q1
Photodiode

Most Common Topology

Vbias
Has good bandwidth
and dynamic Range

Q2
Out

Rf

See Das et. al. Journal of Lightwave Technology

Vol. 13, No. 9, Sept.. 1995
For an analytic treatment of the design of maximally flat
high sensitivity transimpedance amplifiers

Transimpedance approximately equals Rf

low values increase peaking and bandwidth

Off-the-shelf Receiver Example

+Bias
Is

C=400ff
Id=10nA
=0.7

NF2 1
Gain1

NFTotal NF1

Output

Amplifier 1
Gain1=20dB
NF1=7dB

50

i2

i2

Detector

Re sistor

Amplifier 2
Gain2=20dB
NF2=7dB

2qId I 2B 1.8 x10 17 A2

4kT
2
I2 B i Detector
1.9 x10 12 A2
Rs
NF

Re sistor Amp1

1
4kT
2
10

10 I2 B i Detector
7.5 x10 12 A2
Rs

Re sistor Amp1 Amp 2

4kT

10
Rs

4kTRs Vn2

4kTRs

NF 10Log10

NFTotal
10

2
I2 B i Detector
7.6 x10 12 A2

Sensitivity
45.22dBm

20.14dBm

16.63dBm

16.59dBm

Bit Error Rate

BER is equal to number of errors divided by
total number of pulses (ones and zeros).
Total number of pulses is bit rate B times
time interval. BER is thus not really a rate,
but a unitless probability.

Q Factor and BER

Q

Vth Voff

off

Von Vth

on

1
Q
BER 1 erf

2
2

BER vs. Q, continued

When off = on and Voff=0 so that Vth=V/2, then
Q=V/2. In this case,

1
V
BER 1 erf

2
2 2

Sensitivity
The minimum optical power that still gives a
bit error rate of 10-9 or below

(Smith and Personick 1982)

Receiver Sensitivity

Sensitivity= Average detected optical power for a given bit error rate

hv Q i 2
q

1/2

Probability of error vs. Q is to good approximation:

For pin detectors

i2 i2

amplifier

2qId I2B

Q2 /2

P E 1 e

2 Q
eg. for a SNR = Q = 6

Bit Error Rate= P(E)=10-9

Dynamic Range and Sensitivity

Measurement
um
xim
a
M

Input
Optical
Power

Sig

l
ve
Le
l
na

Dynamic Range

ivity
r Sensit
receive

Dynamic range is the Optical power

difference in dB over which the BER
remains
within specified limits (Typically 109/sec)
The low power limit is determined by the
preamplifier sensitivity

High Rf
Feedback Resistance
Low Rf
(High Impedance Preamplifier)
(Transimpedance Preamplifier

The high power limit is determined by

the non-linearity and gain compression

Patten
Generator

Transmitter

Adjustable
Attenuator

Optional Clock

Experimental Setup

Optical
Receiver

Bit Error
Rate Counter

Eye Diagrams
Transmitter
eye mask
determination

Formation of eye diagram

Eye diagram
degradations
Computer Simulation of a distorted eye diagram
Fiber-Optic Communications Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner

Power Penalties
Extinction ratio
Intensity noise
Timing jitter

Extinction ratio penalty

Extinction ratio rex=P0/P1

1 rex
2 RP

Q
1 rex on off

1 rex

ex 10 log
1 rex

Intensity noise penalty

rI=inverse of SNR of transmitted light

I R PrI
I 10 log1 r Q
2
I

Timing jitter penalty

Parameter B=fraction of bit period over which
apparent clock time varies

4 2

b
8 B
3

J 10 log

1 b / 2

2
2 2

1 b / 2 b Q / 2