Online class 4

ETC 721/2
 Detection process
Any process which converts optical energy into another useful form of energy can be
considered to be a detector.
For optoelectronic systems, the most useful detectors are those that convert optical energy
directly into current or voltage.

Detectors

Quantum detectors Thermal detector

They responds to the number of They responds to the energy
photon incident on them incident on them

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 Quantum detector
Suppose ‘n’ number of photons are is falling on the detector. If the total power received by
the detector is P then we can write
# 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝜂𝑃 𝜂𝑃𝜆
= =
𝑠𝑒𝑐 ℎ𝜈 ℎ𝑐
Where 𝜂 denotes the number of electron-hole pair generated by absorption of one photon.
This is called quantum efficiency of the detector.
The threshold response of the quantum detector is due to
the quantum nature of the process: the energy in a single
photon must be sufficient to excite a single carrier across
some energy barrier.
If the energy barrier has height E in eV, then the maximum
wavelength that the detector will respond to is given by
1.24
𝜆𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝜇𝑚 =
𝐸(𝑒𝑉)

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 Thermal detector
The ideal thermal detector responds to total power, independent of the wavelength. We
assume that the thermal detector is coated with a material that is perfectly absorbing at all
wavelengths (an approximation which is not strictly true, but which can be achieved for
large spectral ranges).
Real detectors have spectral response curves which are limited only by the spectral
absorption of the coating. The absorbed optical power is converted to heat. To convert this to
an electrical signal, a temperature transducer such as a thermocouple is used.

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 Noise

The noises that can be present in a detection process are

• Shot noise
• Background noise
• Johnson noise
• Dark current noise
• 1/f noise

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 Shot noise
Shot noise is a fundamental noise that exists in all optical detection processes.
When optical power is detected, it arrives in small packets, called photons. Each packet
arrives randomly, and produces a current of one electron. Sometimes many photons arrive in
a short time, while during other periods only a few photons arrive. This randomness in
arrival leads to fluctuations (noise) in the signal. This is called shot noise.
It is fundamental because there is no way to avoid it.

A squeezed light would ideally have every photon arrive in a regular sequence. The resulting
current would be totally predictable.
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 Shot noise
The average number of photons arriving per pulse of width ‘t’ is given by
ഥ = 𝑎𝑡
𝑁
Where ‘a’ is rate constant. If the source emitting 106 photons/sec then 𝑎 = 106 . Then the probability
of arriving N photons is given by
ഥ
ഥ 𝑁 𝑒 −𝑁
𝑁
𝑃 𝑁 =
𝑁!
This is called Poisson’s probability distribution.
Only 16 percent of the pulses actually have six
photons, so not even the most probable event is a
dominant event.
There is a finite probability of receiving no photons,
given by P(0) = e-6 = 2.4 × 10- 3 .
i.e. approximately 1 in 400 pulses will have no
photons.
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 Shot noise
The actual variation of photon number is evaluated through a root mean square of the Poisson
distribution. The root mean square of the distribution is given by
1
Δ𝑁 2 2
= ഥ
𝑁
The magnitude of the shot noise increases with the square root of the total number of photons
received. The origin of the shot noise is the statistical fluctuation in the arrival of individual photons.

Ex 1. On average, how many photons should be sent per pulse if it is desired that only 1 pulse in 109
be misinterpreted ?
Ans : Using Poisson statistics the probability of having no photon in pulse is
𝑃 0 = 𝑒 −𝑁ഥ = 10−9
Hence we get, ഥ ≈ 20.7 = 21.
𝑁
This is called the quantum limit detection.
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 Signal to noise ratio (SNR)
The signal current generated in a perfect quantum photodetector by a pulse of duration 
with N photons is given by
𝑁𝑞
𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑔 =
𝜏
The noise current due to shot noise will be
𝑞
𝑖𝑛 = ഥ
𝑁
𝜏
1
Now if we define the bandwidth of the signal 𝐵 = then we can write
2𝜏
𝑞2 𝑞 𝑞 𝑞
𝑖𝑛2 = 2
ഥ
𝑁 = ഥ
𝑁 = 𝑖ҧ = 2𝑞𝐵𝑖 ҧ
𝜏 𝜏 𝜏 𝜏
If we consider a real detector with efficiency 𝜂 then we can write
𝑆 𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑔 𝜂𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔 𝑞 Τℎ𝜈 𝜂𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔 𝑆 𝑆 2 𝜂𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔
= = = and = =
𝑁 𝑖 𝑖𝑛 𝜂𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔 𝑞2 𝐵Τℎ𝜈 2ℎ𝜈𝐵 𝑁 𝑝 𝑁 𝑖 2ℎ𝜈𝐵

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 Signal to noise ratio (SNR)
The noise equivalent power (NEP) is called where SNR is unity. For quantum detector it is
given by
2ℎ𝜈𝐵 ℎ𝜈
𝑁𝐸𝑃 = =
𝜂 𝜂𝜏

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 Background radiation

Blackbody radiation represents a ubiquitous source of light that is independent of the signal.
Since the detector cannot distinguish signal photons from blackbody photons, the blackbody
radiation simply adds to the photocurrent. This, of course, will lead to increased shot noise.
Shot noise due to background radiation is accounted for by adding the background radiation
to the signal,
𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔 +𝑃𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘
𝑖𝑛2 = 2
2𝜂𝑞 𝐵
ℎ𝜈
Therefore the SNR becomes
2
𝑆 𝜂𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔
=
𝑁 𝑝 2ℎ𝜈𝐵 𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔 +𝑃𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘

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 Johnson radiation
Johnson noise, or circuit noise as it is sometimes called, is usually the largest single noise
component in a photo-receiver. Johnson noise arises from the random motion of electrons in
resistors. Random thermal motion of the electrons can lead to excess charge accumulating
momentarily at one end of a resistor. This leads to small voltage differences and currents.
The noise power is proportional to the temperature of the resistor
2 4𝑘𝑇𝑏
𝑖𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛 =
𝑅
• Every resistor in a circuit will display Johnson noise.
• Like shot noise, Johnson noise is fundamental. There is little that can be done to reduce it
other than to cool the resistor to low temperatures.

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 Dark current noise
Most detectors pass a small DC current even when no optical signal is present. This current
is called the dark current.
• In a semiconductor device, dark current arises from the spontaneous generation of
electron-hole pairs in the depletion region of the p-n junction.
• In a photomultiplier tube, dark current arises from the spontaneous emission of electrons
from an electroemissive surface.
Dark current contributes a DC offset to the signal current, but except for DC signals, this can
be filtered away from the signal. The problem with dark current is the shot noise it creates
𝑖𝑛2 = 2𝑞𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝐵

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 1/f noise

At low frequencies, a noise called l/f noise, or flicker noise, is observed in some systems. As
the frequency f increases, the magnitude of this noise decreases. Flicker noise has been
observed in many systems (not just electrical). The source of this noise is rarely known, and
has been generally attributed to chaos in the dynamics of the system. The noise voltage of
most electrical devices follows the form
𝑎
𝑣𝑛2 =
𝑣𝛼
The proportionality constant a depends on the specific device, and even within a collection
of similar devices the magnitude of the noise will differ. The power coefficient  ranges
from 0.9 to 1.2 for different phenomenon.

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 Combined effect of all noise
The noises discussed so far are independent and uncorrelated. Therefore the total SNR will
be:
2
𝑆 𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑔
= 2 2 2 2
𝑁 𝑖𝑛 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛
+ 𝑖𝑛 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛
+ 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘
+ 𝑖𝑛 1Τ𝑓

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 Photomultiplier tube

• The electrons that are emitted from the photocathode are focused electrostatically and accelerated toward
the first dynode, arriving with a kinetic energy of, typically, about 100 e V.
• Secondary emission from dynode surfaces causes a multiplication of the initial current.
• If the average secondary emission multiplication at each dynode is  and the number of dynodes is N, the
total current multiplication between the cathode and anode is
𝐺 = 𝛿𝑁
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 Noise in Photomultiplier tube

• Cathode shot noise given by

2
𝑖𝑁 = 𝐺 2
2𝑒 ഥ𝑐 + 𝑖𝑑 Δ𝜈
𝑖
1
where 𝑖ഥ𝑐 isAverage photocathode current and 𝑖𝑑 is the dark current
• Dynode shot noise, which is the shot noise due to the random nature of the secondary
emission process at the dynodes. emission process at the dynodes. Current originating at a
dynode does not exercise the full gain of the tube, the contribution of all the dynodes to
the total shot noise output is smaller by a factor of ~𝛿 −1 than that of the cathode; since
𝛿~5, it amounts to a small correction and will be ignored in the following.
• Johnson noise, which is the thermal noise associated with the output resistance R
connected across the anode. Its magnitude is given by
2 4𝑘𝑇Δ𝜈
𝑖𝑁 =
1 𝑅

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 Minimum detectable power in Photomultiplier
Photomultipliers are used primarily in one of two ways. In the first, the optical wave to be
detected is modulated at some low frequency m before impinging on the photocathode. The
signal consists of an output current oscillating at m which has an amplitude proportional to
the optical intensity. This mode of operation is known as video, or straight, detection.
In the second mode of operation, the signal to be detected, whose optical frequency is s is
combined at the photocathode with a much stronger optical wave of frequency s+. The
output signal is then a current at the offset frequency . This scheme, known as heterodyne
detection.
The optical signal in the case of video detection may be taken as

where the factor (1 + m cosmt) represents amplitude modulation of the carrier.

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 Minimum detectable power in Photomultiplier
The photocathode current is given by

At m=0 the average photocathode current is

So we can rewrite the cathode current as

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 Minimum detectable power in Photomultiplier
The signal current at frequency m is given by

If the output of the detector is limited by filtering to a bandwidth  cantered at m it

contains a shot-noise current, which has a mean squared amplitude of

The signal to noise power ratio at output is thus given by

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 Minimum detectable power in Photomultiplier
The minimum detectable power is given by S/N=1, which gives

The noise and signal equivalent circuit is shown as, where for the sake of definiteness we
took the modulation index m = 1. R represents the output load of the photomultiplier.

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
For an analog signal, the SNR will be specified by the application or customer. In digital
transmission, the concepts are the same, but we must deal with the binary nature of the
signal.

Consider a digital communication link, where information is sent as a space (a 0), or as a

mark (a 1). Instead of a baseband S/N ratio, the system performance will be defined in terms
of a bit error rate, which describes on average what fraction of spaces will be misinterpreted
to be marks, and vice versa. For telecommunications links, bit error rates (BER) of 10-9 are
acceptable. For computer data communication links, a BER of 10-15 is often specified.

We will ignore the effects of pulse distortion, such as spreading due to dispersion. This kind
of distortion can lead to inter-symbol interference, where a given pulse amplitude is affected
by the pulses immediately preceding and following it.

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Bit Error Rate (BER)

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
In a digital optical transmission system, the Is and 0s are sent
by temporal marks and spaces in the optical power.
Although the ideal transmitted signal will consist of two well-
defined levels, noise in a real (i.e., non- ideal) system adds
uncertainty to the received amplitude of the marks and spaces.
The combined signal plus noise is characterized by a
probability distribution function (PDF).

The example shows the probability distribution function for a

space (0) and mark (1) for a received signal. The decision
level is selected to minimize the bit error rate. The values s(l)
and s(0) are the expectation current values for a mark and
space, respectively.

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
Let us consider:
12 is the variances of marks and 02 is that of space
Id is the decision level of current
The probability that a transmitted mark will be received as a space is proportional to the
area of the curve under the decision level, A10. Similarly, the probability that a transmitted
space will be received as a mark is A01.
Hence we can write the total probability error as:
𝑝 𝐸 = 𝑝 0 𝐴10 + 𝑝 1 𝐴01 (1)
where p(0) and p(1) are the probabilities that a space or mark are transmitted, respectively,
and the A terms are the probabilities that they are misidentified.

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
Since we considered the probability is Gaussian hence the total probability can be
analytically described as:
2
1 ∞ −𝑥
𝑝 𝐸 = ‫ 𝑒 ׬‬2 𝑑𝑥 (2)
2𝜋 𝑄
Where we define
𝐼𝑑 −𝑠(𝑖)
𝑄= (3)
𝜎𝑖
s(i) is the expected signal current and i is the standard deviation of the ith signal.
To ease calculations, we will assume Id has been chosen to make Q identical for either state.
To a good approximation, the integral in eqn. (2) then becomes
2
1 𝑒 − 𝑄 Τ2
𝐵𝐸𝑅 = (4)
2𝜋 𝑄
Q is effectively the number of standard deviations the average value of the signal is away
from the decision level.

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
Noting that when the statistics are Gaussian, the variance
i is equal to the mean square noise associated with the
signal level, we can rewrite the value of Q in terms of
power S/N.
If a 50 percent duty cycle is assumed (on average there
are as many marks as spaces) S(i) is the power in the
signal, and Ntot(i) is the total noise power, Q can be
defined as
𝑆(1)− 𝑆(0)
𝑄= (5)
𝑁𝑡𝑜𝑡 (1)− 𝑁𝑡𝑜𝑡 (0)
The BER is plotted as a function of Q.
By inspection, a BER of 10-9 suitable for telecom requires
Q = 6, while a datacom BER of 10-15 requires Q = 8.

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
Now let's look at the question of how much power is required to achieve a given value of Q.
Ideally, the mean signal in the space will be zero. However, this is rarely the case because
the lasers or modulators used to encode the digital information generally have a finite
contrast ratio. Consider a quantum detector with quantum efficiency . The mark and space
currents will be:
𝜂𝑞
𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑔 0 = 𝑃(0)
ℎ𝜈
𝜂𝑞
𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑔 1 = 𝑃(1)
ℎ𝜈
where P(0) and P(l) are the optical power in the space and mark, respectively. Both of these
levels will have noise currents associated with them, but in practice circuit noise dominates
these noise currents. Therefore it is a reasonable approximation to neglect signal-dependent
noise and set the total noise to be entirely due to the circuit,
2 2
𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑡 = 𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑟 (6)

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
Then by using eqn. (3) & (6) we get:
𝜂𝑞 2 1/2
𝐼𝑑 − 𝑃 0 =𝑄 𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑟
ℎ𝜈
(7)
𝜂𝑞 2 1/2
𝑃 1 − 𝐼𝑑 = 𝑄 𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑟
ℎ𝜈
Now if we define an extinction ratio
𝑃(0)
𝑟=
𝑃(1)
The soln. of eqn. (7) can then be written as:
1−𝑟 ℎ𝜈 2 1/2
𝜂 𝑃ത = 𝑄 𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑟 (8)
1+𝑟 𝑞
The first factor describes the penalty for transmitting nonzero power in a space. The second
term is the photon energy in eV.

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 Bit Error Rate (BER)
In the limit that r=0, and for a BER = 10-9 (Q = 6), the average detected power at a
wavelength of 1.3 µm is
1
2
𝜂 𝑃ത = 5.7𝑄 < 𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑟 > 2

This means that the optical signal must produce an average current of 5.7 times that of the
rms noise current in the circuit. Keep in mind that we have averaged over a 50 percent duty
cycle, so the average peak power of the marks will be twice this.
1
2
The effect of bandwidth of the signal is not explicit, but hidden in the term < 𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑟 > .
2

The noise current from the receiver will increase with bandwidth, and the rate at which it
increases (as Bl/2, B, B2, etc.) depends on the specific circuitry in the front end of the
receiver's amplifier

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 Coherent detection

The total field on the detector is

𝐸 𝑡 = 𝐸𝐿 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜔𝐿 𝑡 + 𝐸𝑆 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜔𝑆 𝑡
Therefore the instantaneous power falling on the detector is
𝐸2 𝑡 𝐴
𝑃(𝑡) =
𝜇0 Τ𝜀
A is the effective area of the field
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 Coherent detection
Then the current through detector can be written as:
𝑞𝜂𝐴 𝑞𝜂𝐴 𝐸𝐿2 1 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝜔𝐿 𝑇 + 𝐸𝑠2 1 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠2𝜔𝑠 𝑇 +
𝑖= 𝐸2 𝑡 =
ℎ𝜈 𝜇0 Τ𝜀 ℎ𝜈 𝜇0 Τ𝜀 2𝐸𝐿 𝐸𝑆 cos 𝜔𝐿 − 𝜔𝑠 𝑡 + 2𝐸𝐿 𝐸𝑆 cos 𝜔𝐿 + 𝜔𝑠 𝑡
Now if the difference between 𝜔𝐿 and 𝜔𝑠 is very small with respect to their absolute values and the
detector response is not fast enough then we can write the average current as
𝑞𝜂𝐴
𝑖(𝑡) = 𝐸𝐿2 + 𝐸𝑠2 + 2𝐸𝐿 𝐸𝑆 cos 𝜔𝐿 − 𝜔𝑠 𝑡
ℎ𝜈 𝜇0 Τ𝜀
In terms of current we can write
𝑖 𝑡 = 𝑖𝐿 + 𝑖𝑆 + 2 𝑖𝐿 𝑖𝑠 cos 𝜔𝐿 − 𝜔𝑠 𝑡
Hence the intermediate frequency term becomes
2
2 2 𝑖𝐿 𝑖𝑠
𝑖𝐼𝐹 = = 2𝑖𝐿 𝑖𝑆
2
The power at the intermediate frequency, which contains all the ,information in the signal, increases
directly with the applied local oscillator power, not just with the signal power.
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 Coherent detection

Using these expression we can write

2 𝜂𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑔
𝑆 𝑖𝐼𝐹 2𝑖𝐿 𝑖𝑆 𝑆
= 2 = = =2
𝑁 𝑐𝑜 𝑖𝑛 2𝑞𝑖𝐿 𝐵 ℎ𝜈𝐵 𝑁 𝐷𝑖𝑟

Here we see an advantage of coherent detection: the shot noise limit is a factor of 2 less than
in the direct detection case. Not only can a weak signal be brought into the shot noise limit,
but there is also a 3dB advantage in the shot noise SNR.
A final advantage of coherent detection is that the detection process can be done at any
desired intermediate frequency by adjusting the local oscillator frequency. This allows for
the signal to be detected away from DC where l/f noise is a problem.

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