Photonic integrated receiver for 40 Gbit/s transmission

Abstract

A novel 40 Gbit/s optical receiver is presented. The device consists of a waveguide photodiode integrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier. The receiver has a small signal bandwidth of 39 GHz and a conversion gain of more than 800 V/W. A back-to-back sensitivity of −17 dBm has been demonstrated for non-return to zero data transmission at 40 Gbit/s. A sensitivity of −32 dBm or 110 photons/bit has been realised for 40 Gbit/s return to zero transmission with an erbium doped fibre preamplifier and an optical filter.