OPTICAL

INSTRUMENTATION
ANUJ BHARDWAJ (UNIT-2) 1
OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION


UNIT-2
( Opto-Electronic devices and optical components)

Photo diode, PIN, Photo- Conductors, solar cells, Photo transistors, Materials used to fabricate
LEDs and Lasers Design of LED for optical communication, Response times of LEDs , LED drive
circuitry, Lasers classification: Ruby lasers, Neodymium Lasers, He-Ne lasers, Dye lasers,
Semiconductors lasers, Lasers applications


UNIT-2 ( Opto-Electronic devices and optical components)
Photodiode:
Photo diodes are also
called junction
photodetectors as they
contain PN junction.
MECHANISM
Reverse-biased diode
Depletion region separates electron-hole
pairs
Thin depletion for high speed transit time
Thick depletion for high quantum efficiency -
absorption
Types of photodiode
Photodiode
Conventional
PN junction
diode
PIN photodiode
Avalanche
photodiode
PN junction photodiode
This photodiode is a PN junction
operated in the reverse biased
condition.Here photon current
flows as if a reverse current
flows in the case of the normal
reverse biased diode.

The VI chracteristics of a PN junction
photodiode is shown in figure:
As the light is incident on the
photodiode photocurrent is developed
in dark- no current flows
PIN Photodiode
PIN Photodiode: the PIN
photodetector has a wide
intrinsic layer between the two
highly dopped regions.It gives
better performance compared to
the conventional photodiode.


p-i-n Photodiode
p-i-n Photodiode
Thick intrinsic layer for high absorption and low capacitance
Low bias required to deplete intrinsic layer
No-gain = linear response
VI characteristics:
a)In photoconductive mode
the photocurrent is slightly dependent on the
reverse bias.For a constant reverse bias the
current is linear.This is called current mode
of operation of the photodiode.
b) In photovoltaic mode
when no reverse bias is provided thon for
incident optical power it results in a
forward voltage.This is called voltage mode
of operation of the photodiode.

Avalanche Photodiode APD
APDs show an internal current gain effect (around 100) due
to impact ionization (avalanche effect)
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
APDs internally multiply the
primary photocurrent before it
enters to following circuitry.
In order to carrier multiplication
take place, the photogenerated
carriers must traverse along a
high field region. In this region,
photogenerated electrons and
holes gain enough energy to
ionize bound electrons in VB
upon colliding with them. This
multiplication is known as
impact ionization. The newly
created carriers in the presence of
high electric field result in more
ionization called avalanche
effect.
Reach-Through APD structure (RAPD)
showing the electric fields in depletion
region and multiplication region.
Optical radiation
Responsivity of APD

The multiplication factor (current gain) M for all carriers generated in the
photodiode is defined as:


Where is the average value of the total multiplied output current &
is the primary photocurrent.

The responsivity of APD can be calculated by considering the current gain
as:
p
M
I
I
M =
[6-6]
M
I
P
I
M M
h
q
0 APD
9 = = 9
v
q
[6-7]
Current gain (M) vs. Voltage for different optical
wavelengths
p
+
SiO
2 Electrode

net
x
x
E(x)
R
E
hu > E
g
p
I
ph
e

h
+
Absorption
region
Avalanche
region
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a) A schematic illustration of the structure of an avalanche photodiode (APD) biased
for avalanche gain. (b) The net space charge density across the photodiode. (c) The
field across the diode and the identification of absorption and multiplication regions.
Electrode
1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
n
+
APD
APD gain varies strongly with the applied reverse bias and temperature,
it is necessary to control the reverse voltage to keep a stable gain
Advantages of photodiode
Very low reverse bias is necessary
High quantum efficiency
Larger bandwidths can be obtained
Lower noise level
The only disadvantage is that the PIN
photodiode does not give any amplification
action.
Solar cells:the solar cell
is a device which converts
the incident light radiation
into he electric power .
The most commonly used
types of solar cells are:
Silicon solar cell
heterojuncion solar cell
Homojunction solar cell
amorphous silicon cells
GaAs solar cells

Schematic
representation of a
silicon p-n junction
solar cell.
Solar Cell
Definition
Principle of Solar Cell
Current generation
I-V characteristic of an illuminated p-n junction
Physical process of Solar cell
I-V characteristic of solar cell
Solar cell parameter
Applications
reference




Definition:
Device that converts optical energy into
electrical energy.
It supplies a voltage and a current to a resistive load (light,
battery, motor).
Power = Current x Voltage=Current
2
x R= Voltage
2
/R
The voltage supplied by the cell changes with
changes in the resistance of the load.
It supplies DC power.

Principle of Solar Cells
Most familiar solar cells are based on the
effect of photo voltaic.
In this effect, light falling on a semi-conductor
device of two layers, produces a potential
difference or photo voltage between the
layers.
The voltage thus produced can drive a current
through an external circuit producing useful
work.
The Photovoltaic Effect in a Solar Cell
Principle of solar cell
A solar cell is a very large diode.
When Si that is doped p-type is next to a region of Si
doped n-type, the holes from the p-type side diffuse to the
n-type side. The electrons diffuse to the p-type side.
This creates an electric field.
This electric field makes it easy for current to flow in one
direction, but hard to flow in the other.
This electric field also separates electrons and holes that
have been created by the absorption of sun light. When
the electrons and holes are separated electric power can
be extracted from the circuit.
Current generation
When light is incident on
p-n junction-
Photon absorbed if h >

E
g


No big change in majority
carriers in conduction
band.
But a significant change in
minority carriers in
valance band .




Band diagram when light is
incident
Current generation
A current is identified due to drift of minority carriers
across a junction as a generation current.
Generation rate g
op
(EHP/cm
3
) participate in total
current.
So the total current is depend on current due to usual
diode and current due to optically generation.

I= I
th
(e
qV/KT
1) - I
op




I-V characteristic of an illuminated p-n
junction
In I quadrant current and
junction voltage both are
+ve.(forward bias)
In III quadrant current and
junction voltage both are
ve.(reverse bias)
So power is delivered to the
device from the external
circuit
Physical process of solar cell
But in IV quadrant junction voltage is +ve and
current is ve.
So power is delivered from junction to
external circuit.
Solar cell work in this IV quadrant region.

The device delivers
power to the load
I-V characteristics of solar cell
This figure gives many parameter of solar cell.
Forward bias characteristics of solar cell
I
SC
=The Short circuit
current
V
OC
=The Open Circuit
Voltage
V
MP
=The Voltage at the
maximum power point
I
MP
= The Current at the
maximum power point

Solar cell parameter
Fill Factor- is essentially a measure of quality of the solar
cell.
Its a figure of merit for a solar design.
FF= V
MP
I
MP
/ I
SC
V
OC

P
max
= maximum power
P
T
= theoretical power
Efficiency () - is the ratio of the electrical power output P
out
,
compared to the solar power input, P
in
, into the solar cell
= P
out
/ P
in
= P
MAX
/ P
in


= V
MP
I
MP
/ I
T
A
s

I
T
= radiation flux
A
s
= surface area of p-n junction
Advantages of solar cell
Solar energy is free and inexhaustible
Solar energy is clean and non-pollution energy.
Solar cell can be considered to be long life devices as they
have useful lifetimes in excess of 20 years.
Maintenance is simple and automation and unmannes
operation is feasible.
Applications
Professional applications
Ocean navigation aids
Telecommunication systems
Remote monitoring and control
Cathodic protection
Electric power generation in space
Grid-connected systems
PV Power Stations
PV in buildings



Applications
Rural electrification
Water pumping
Domestic supply
Lighting
Health care

Phototransistors
Phototransistors:the
phototransistor is an opto-
electronic device like the
avalanche photodiode where the
current flow from aPN junction
detector is internally amplified.
Working of phototransistor
When light falls on phototransistor, electron
hole pairs are generaed in the collector base
region
The applied potential separates these
electrons and holes.
Multiplication of charge takes place.
These electrons enter into the collector region
.
Thus photocurrent flows.
Hetero-junction LED
Homo-junction LED has two
drawbacks
Narrow p-side encourages
surface recombination of the
injected carriers through surface
defects
If the recombination occurs over a large volume (longer
distance) due to the longer electron diffusion length, then the
chance of re-absorption of emitted photons becomes higher, as
the amount of re-absorption increases with material volume
The double hetero-structure LED increases the intensity of
output light
Surface Emitted LED &Edge Emitted LED
If the emitted radiation emerges
from an area in the plane of the
recombination layer, then the device
is surface emitting LED
If the emitted radiation
emerges from an area on a
crystal perpendicular to the
active layer, then the device is
edge emitting LED
Surface Emitted LED
The thin SiO
2
layer at the back isolates the contact layer
Photons are generated in the thin p-GaAs region
The photon emitted from the active region p-GaAs doesn't
absorbed by the neighboring layer (AlGaAs), which has wider
bandgap
Edge Emitted LED
Edge emitting LED provides a great intensity light and more
collimated beam than the surface emitted LED
Hetero-structure
InGaAsP/InGaAs/InGaAsP
Materials used to
fabricate LED:
The following are the requirements
for a good quality LED material:
a) It must have energy gap of
appropriate widh.
b) Both P and N typpes must exist
,preferably with low
resistivities.
c) Effective radiative paths should
be present.
Double Heterostructure LEDs
Isoelectronic doping indirect bandgap
LED drive circuitry
LED analog transmission:
The analog signal is basically a time varying voltage waveform in which both
amplitude and phase are varying with time. Therefore LED shall provide a
linear region in which output power of LED responds linearly to the
variation of input voltage or current.Using the linear characteristics of LED
,it is possible to do analog communication from LED source using
transistor circuits when extremely low level distortions are not required.
LED DIGITAL TRANSMISSION:LED digital transmitters
deal with high speed switching of on or off LED currents in
response to logic circuts coding.The switching speeds of
several kilohertz to six hundred megahertz are used whereas
current pulses may range from several tens of milliamperes to
several hundreds of milliamperes.
1. Definition of laser
A laser is a device that generates light by a process
called STIMULATED EMISSION.
The acronym LASER stands for Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation
Semiconducting lasers are multilayer semiconductor
devices that generates a coherent beam of
monochromatic light by laser action. A coherent
beam resulted which all of the photons are in phase.
3.2.2 The Basic Principles of Lasers

The word LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation.

The essential elements of a laser device are as follows:
An active medium, consisting of a collection of atoms, molecules, or
ions in a gaseous, liquid, or solid state, which generates and amplifies
light by means of appropriate transitions between its quantum energy
levels.
An energy pumping mechanism, the energy pump which selectively
pumps energy into the active medium to populate selected energy levels
and to achieve population inversion
An optical resonator, which provides the optical feedback and
determines the emission modes.

The light-matter interaction process that takes place in the active medium
constitutes the essential key of laser radiation. On the basis of
phenomenological consideration, Einstein developed a theory that permits a
qualitative understanding of the processes related to light absorption and
emission by atoms. Three basic light-matter interactions can be considered:
absorption, spontaneous emission, and stimulated emission of photons, as
shown in the figure. The basis of laser radiation lies in the last process:
stimulated emission. In the stimulated emission, an incident photon can lead
to generation of more photons with identical properties. Thus, the stimulated
emission in itself constitutes an optical amplification phenomenon.
The quantum mechanical perturbation theory that allows us to calculate the
probabilities of the absorption and stimulated emission shows that both the
processes have equal transition probabilities, provided that the levels have
equal degeneracy.

3.2.3 The Threshold Condition: Population Inversion
It is clear that in order to get stimulated emission, a pumping process is
certainly required to excite the active medium to its excited state. Real
materials can be pumped in many ways, as will be mentioned later. For laser
action to occur, the pumping must produce not merely excited atoms, but the
condition of population inversion.
level lasers.
3.2.4 Pumping Techniques
In general, different pumping techniques are used in practical devices
depending on the types of active medium.
Gas discharges are among the most widely used pumping processes for gas
lasers. Direct electron impact with atoms or ions and transfer of energy by
collisions between different atoms are the two main mechanisms involved.
Optical pumping techniques are also very common. The source of the
pumping light may be a continuous arclamp, a pulsed flash lamp, another
laser, or even focused sunlight.
Other pumping techniques include chemical reactions, high-voltage electron
beam bombard, and direct current injection across the junction of a
semiconductor laser.

LASER :LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULAED EMISSION OF
RADIATION
CHRACTERISTICS:
DIRECTIONALITY
HIGH INTENSITY
EXTRAORDINARY MONOCHROMATICITY
HIGH DEGREE OF COHERENCE

Three Mechanisms of Light Emission
For atomic systems in thermal equilibrium with their
surrounding, the emission of light is the result of:
Absorption
And subsequently, spontaneous emission of energy
There is another process whereby the atom in an upper energy
level can be triggered or stimulated in phase with the an
incoming photon. This process is:
Stimulated emission
It is an important process for laser action
1. Absorption
2. Spontaneous Emission
3. Stimulated Emission
Therefore 3 process
of light emission:
Absorption
E
1

E
2

Spontaneous Emission
Stimulated Emission
Background Physics
In 1917 Einstein predicted that:
under certain circumstances a photon
incident upon a material can generate a
second photon of
Exactly the same energy (frequency)
Phase
Polarisation
Direction of propagation
In other word, a coherent beam resulted.
Background Physics
Consider the stimulated emission as shown
previously.
Stimulated emission is the basis of the laser action.
The two photons that have been produced can then
generate more photons, and the 4 generated can
generate 16 etc etc which could result in a
cascade of intense monochromatic radiation.
E
1
E
2
hu
(a) Absorption
hu
(b) Spontaneous emission
hu
(c) Stimulated emission
In
hu
Out
hu
E
2
E
2
E
1
E
1
Absorption, spontaneous (random photon) emission and stimulated
emission.
1999 S. O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Stimulated Emission
Population Inversion
Therefore we must have a mechanism where N
2
> N
1

This is called POPULATION INVERSION
Population inversion can be created by introducing a so call metastable
centre where electrons can piled up to achieve a situation where more N
2

than N
1

The process of attaining a population inversion is called pumping and the
objective is to obtain a non-thermal equilibrium.
It is not possible to achieve population inversion with a 2-state system.
If the radiation flux is made very large the probability of stimulated emission
and absorption can be made far exceed the rate of spontaneous emission.
But in 2-state system, the best we can get is N
1
= N
2
.
To create population inversion, a 3-state system is required.
The system is pumped with radiation of energy E
31
then atoms in state 3
relax to state 2 non radiatively.
The electrons from E
2
will now jump to E
1
to give out radiation.
Typical Exam Question
Define the term population inversion for a
semiconducting laser (diode) explain what is
the condition of population inversion.
Why is population inversion required for a
lasing action?
(40 marks)
Therefore in a laser.

Three key elements in a laser

Pumping process prepares amplifying medium in suitable state
Optical power increases on each pass through amplifying medium
If gain exceeds loss, device will oscillate, generating a coherentoutput

3.3.3 Dye Lasers
In this type of lasers, the
active media are organic dye
molecules dissolved in a liquid,
which display strong
broadband fluorescence
spectra under excitation of
visible light or UV light.
A simplified energy-level
diagram for a dye in a liquid
solution is shown in the right
figure. The dye molecules
have singlet as well as triplet
electronic states. The singlet
and triplet states refer to those
states that have a total electron
spin quantum number equal to 0 and 1, respectively. Each electronic state
comprises several vibrational states, and each of these in turn contains
several rotational levels. When the dye molecules are excited with photons
of appropriate energy, higher vibrational levels of the first or second excited
singlet states (S
1
or S
2
) are populated from rotational-vibrational electronic
levels of the ground state S
0
. Then, induced by collisions with the solvent,
the excited molecules undergo a rapid nonradiative relaxation to the lower
vibronic level of the state S1. At a sufficiently high pump intensity,
population inversion may be achieved between the level v
0
in S
1
and the
level v
k
of S
0
.
The bottom figure in the figure given in preceding slide shows the
absorption and emission of a commonly used dye, Rhodamine 6G.
The essential characteristic of dye lasers is their broad homogeneous gain
profile that results in broad emission band (tens of nanometers). Therefore,
with different dyes the overall spectral covered by these dyes can be
extended from around 400 nm to 1.1 m, as shown in the figure in next
slide. Dye lasers are thus the wavelength tunable lasers. Due to their
flexibility in design and performance, dye lasers have been commonly used
in a great variety of spectroscopic techniques, including high-resolution
spectroscopy.
RUBY LASER
Ruby consists of Cr+++
ions doped into
crystalline Al203 at a
typical concentration of
around .05% by weight
RUBY LASER
Ruby has the strong
absorption bands in the
blue and green spectral
regions. These electrons
relax rapidly to the
upper laser level by
non-radiative
transitions in which
photons are emitted.
Energy level diagram in He-Ne laser

Helium has two electrons .In the ground
state both electrons are in the 1s
level.The first excited state is the 1s2s
configuration.There are two possible
energies for this state because there
are two possible configurations of the
electron spin.
Nd:YAG LASER
Neodymium ions form
the basis for series of
high power solid state
lasers.The main laser
transition is in the near
infrared at 1.06
micrometer
The diagram on the right shows the level
scheme for the Nd lasers, which are
four level lasers.Electrons are excited
to the pump bands by absorption of
photons from a powerful flashlamp
or from a diode laser operating
around 800 nm.
. 73
10 5 . 1
10 1 . 1
9
11
~

=
A
~
v
v
N
o
Hz
L
c
v
9
8
10 5 . 1
1 . 0 2
10 3
2
=

= = A
EXAMPLE: For a Nd:YAG laser crystal located in a cavity of length 0.1
m, determine (a) the frequency separation among the axial modes and (b)
the number of axial modes. Assume that the laser is operating in a laser
line at 1.06 m, whose full width, v, is 1.1 x 10
11
Hz.
(a) The frequency separation, v, between two adjacent modes is


since the axial modes (optical standing waves) in a cavity of length L
fulfill the condition v = nc/2L, where n is an integer and c is light speed
in vacuum.
(b) The number of axial modes, N, with the laser linewidth is given by

Semiconductor diode laser
These lasers are used in
lasers printer.it consists
of p-n diode cleaved
into a small chip as
shown to the
right.electrons are
injected into the n-
region and holes into
the p region .
3.3.4 Semiconductor Lasers
In this section, we shall summarize the basic principles of the semiconductor
lasers. Following figures illustrate the basis of a semiconductor laser diode.
The laser action is produced by electronic transitions between the
conduction and the valence bands at the p-n junction of a diode. When an
electric current is sent in the forward direction through a p-n semiconductor
diode, the electrons and holes can recombine within the p-n junction and
may emit the recombination energy as electromagnetic radiation. Above a
certain threshold current, the radiation field in the junction becomes
sufficiently intense to make the stimulated emission rate exceed the
spontaneous processes.
The radiation can be amplified by an optical resonator, which, in the
simplest case, is constituted by the semiconductor itself, shaped in the
appropriate manner; for example, by cutting the crystal so that two end faces
are parallel to each other,
and exactly perpendicular to
the laser beam emitted by the
junction, as shown in the right
figure.
In semiconductor lasers, the
emission wavelength is
essentially determined by the
Diode Laser
Applications of laser
In measurement of long distance
In making fine holes and cutting the thick metal sheet
In telecommunication.
In photography
In surgery
In chemistry
In space etc
Typical Application of Laser
The detection of the binary data stored in the form of pits on the compact disc is done
with the use of a semiconductor laser. The laser is focused to a diameter of about 0.8
mm at the bottom of the disc, but is further focused to about 1.7 micrometers as it
passes through the clear plastic substrate to strike the reflective layer. The reflected
laser will be detected by a photodiode. Moral of the story: without optoelectronics
there will no CD player!
LED VS Laser Output Characteristics