The predicted signal to noise performance of a photodiode-distributed amplifier optical detector

Abstract

Calculates the signal to noise ratios obtained from an optical detector consisting of a p-i-n photodiode-grounded source MESFET amplifier and also from a p-i-n photodiode-distributed amplifier combination. Expressions are given for both and compared numerically showing that the distributed amplifier combination is superior by up to 10 dB for bandwidths up to 40 GHz. The calculation assumes that the optical power is the same for the purpose of comparison and that the optical level is such that shot noise can be neglected.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>