Photodetectors

In this book some recent advances in development of photodetectors and photodetection systems for specific applications are included. In the first section of the book nine different types of photodetectors and their characteristics are presented. Next, some theoretical aspects and simulations are discussed. The last eight chapters are devoted to the development of photodetection systems for imaging, particle size analysis, transfers of time, measurement of vibrations, magnetic field, polarization of light, and particle energy. The book is addressed to students, engineers, and researchers working in the field of photonics and advanced technologies

Modeling and engineering impact ionization in avalanche photodiodes for near and mid infrared applications

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are the preferred photodetector in many applications in which low light levels need to be detected. The reason why APDs are important in such applications is due to their internal gain, which improves the APD\u27s sensitivity. Compared to receivers based on PIN photodiodes, which do not present internal gain, APD-based receivers achieve 5-10 dB improved sensitivity. The origin of the APD\u27s internal gain is the impact ionization process. However, due to the stochastic nature of the impact ionization process the multiplication gain comes at the expense of extra noise. This multiplication noise is called the excess noise, and it is a measure of the gain uncertainty. In addition, as the multiplication gain increases the buildup time, which is the time required for all the impact ionizations to complete, also increases. Thus, for a given multiplication gain the buildup time limits the bandwidth of the APD. The main challenge for state-of-the-art APDs, operating in linear and Geiger modes, is to achieve higher operating speeds. For application in which the APD is operated in linear mode the limited speed of APD-based receivers have limited their use in systems that operate at 2.5 and 10 Gbps. However, to meet the demand of the exponential growth in data transfer, the telecommunication industry has been moving toward 40-Gbps and 100-Gbps protocols for their core fiber-optic backbone networks alongside the existing 10-Gbps infrastructure operating at the low-loss wavelength of 1.55 microns. Moreover, the fast progress on quantum communications requires Geiger-mode APDs to operate at higher repetition rates. Currently, Geiger-mode APDs are limited to operate at detection rates of about 20 MHz. In addition, there has been relatively little work on infrared APDs, although there are many applications in remote sensing, medical imaging, and environmental monitoring. In particular, there is no GaAs-based APD operating in Geiger mode beyond 2 microns. This dissertation provides theoretical analysis and experimental exploration of APDs working in linear and Geiger modes in the near infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) ranges of wavelength. This research effort is geared to address the aforementioned current challenges of the state-of-the-art APD technology. In the theoretical part of this work the focus is on the development of new theoretical methods that allow us to model, understand, and characterize avalanche photodiodes working in linear and Geiger modes. The objective is that the developed methods help the design and optimization of high performance, high speed APDs. The experimental part of this research effort consists of the design, fabrication and characterization of a novel mid-infrared sensor, based on GaAs technology, called the quantum-dot avalanche photodiode (QDAP). The main motivation for the QDAP is to exploit its potential of working in Geiger mode regime, which can be utilized for single-photon detection. In addition, the QDAP represents the first GaAs-based APD operating in the mid infrared range of wavelength

Advanced numerical modeling of avalanche infrared photodetectors

Infrared detectors are critical for a variety of applications within the commercial, scientific, and defense communities. Applications such as commercial LiDAR systems or the James Webb Space Telescope rely on infrared detectors with high sensitivity and fast response times to achieve their missions. The avalanche photodiode is a class of detectors with high bandwidth and internal signal amplification which can improve the sensitivity of a detector by overcoming the noise associated with readout electronics. The transport and multiplication properties of avalanche photodiodes are predicated on large electric fields in the device significantly shifting the distribution of the particles to higher energies, where the transport properties change. The modeling of these effects requires simulation tools which accurately incorporate the microscopic processes affecting the energy distribution within the device. In this work, a general-purpose three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation tool, FBMC3D, is developed and subsequently employed to study infrared avalanche photodiode detectors. The software can employ both analytic and numerically computed descriptions of the semiconductor band structure, and real space is discretized using an unstructured tetrahedral mesh suited to the description of modern semiconductor devices with irregular geometries, doping profiles, and compositional gradients. FBMC3D combines and extends the steady advancements of the Monte Carlo technique of the previous decades and allows for the simulation of devices on a scale that has traditionally been restricted to drift-diffusion packages. This tool is then applied to the study of HgCdTe infrared avalanche photodetectors. Monte Carlo transport parameters are determined for a compositional range of HgCdTe corresponding to much of the infrared spectrum. The parameter model is able to fit the multiplication properties of a number of devices of varying architectures and compositions in the range. Finally, the assembled transport models are used to design a long wavelength infrared avalanche photodiode with significantly improved performance with respect to what has been reported in literature

Emerging semiconductor nanostructure materials for single-photon avalanche diodes

Detecting of light at the single photon level has a far-reaching impact that enables a broad range of applications. In sensing, advances in single-photon detection enable low light applications such as night-time operation, rapid satellite communication, and long-range three-dimensional imaging. In biomedical engineering, advancing single-photon detection technologies positively impacts patient care through important applications like singlet oxygen detection for dose monitoring in cancer treatment. In industry, impacts are made on state-of-the-art technologies like quantum communication which relies on the efficient detection of light at the fundamental limit. While the high impact of single-photon detection technologies is clear, the potential for improvement and challenges faced by prominent single-photon detection technologies remains. Superconducting single-photon detectors push the bounds of performance, but their high cost and lack of portability limits their prospect for far reaching applicability. Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are a promising alternative which can be made portable, absent of the need for cryogenic cooling, but they generally lack the performance of superconducting detectors. The materials in SPAD designs dictate operation, and conventional materials implemented being defined according to intrinsic material properties, limits SPAD performance. However, new classes of advanced materials are being realized which exhibit modified electromagnetic properties from the engineered arrangement of subwavelength structural units and low-dimensional properties. Such materials include metamaterials and low-dimensional materials, and they have been shown to enhance optoelectrical properties that are critical to avalanche photodiodes, like rapid photo response, enhanced absorption, and reduced dark current. In this work, the application of such advanced materials in SPADs is explored. Tapered nanowires and nanowire arrays are optimized for enhanced absorption and shown experimentally at room temperature to demonstrate high speed near-unity absorptance response at the single-photon level. In the metamaterial and nanowire devices, the gain and timing jitter are shown to be significantly improved over conventional bulk-based designs. Furthermore, the modelling of metamaterials in a SPAD device design and its operation with external single-photon detection circuitry is studied. The analysis is further shown to extend down to single nanowire devices which offers an elegant approach for integrated photonic circuits

Design and implementation of a high-speed free-space quantum key distribution system for urban scenarios

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física de Materiales. Fecha de lectura: 21-06-201

Visible Light Optical Camera Communication for Electroencephalography Applications

Due to the cable-free deployment and flexibility of wireless communications, the data transmission in the applications of home and healthcare has shown a trend of moving wired communications to wireless communications. One typical example is electroencephalography (EEG). Evolution in the radio frequency (RF) technology has made it is possible to transmit the EEG data without data cable bundles. However, presently, the RF-based wireless technology used in EEG suffers from electromagnetic interference and might also have adverse effects on the health of patient and other medical equipment used in hospitals or homes. This puts some limits in RF-based EEG solutions, which is particularly true in RF restricted zones like Intensive Care Units (ICUs). As a recently developed optical wireless communication (OWC) technology, visible light communication (VLC) using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for both simultaneous illumination and data communication has shown its advantages of free from electromagnetic interference, potential huge unlicensed bandwidth and enhanced data privacy due to the line transmission of light. The most recent development of VLC is the optical camera communication (OCC), which is an extension of VLC IEEE standard 802.15.7, also referred to as visible light optical camera communication (VL-OCC). Different from the conventional VLC where traditional photodiodes are used to detect and receive the data, VL-OCC uses the imaging camera as the photodetector to receive the data in the form of visible light signals. The data rate requirement of EEG is dependent on the application; hence this thesis investigates a low cost, organic LED (OLED)-driven VL-OCC wireless data transmission system for EEG applications

Biologically-Inspired Low-Light Vision Systems for Micro-Air Vehicle Applications

Various insect species such as the Megalopta genalis are able to visually stabilize and navigate at light levels in which individual photo-receptors may receive fewer than ten photons per second. They do so in cluttered forest environments with astonishing success while relying heavily on optic flow estimation. Such capabilities are nowhere near being met with current technology, in large part due to limitations of low-light vision systems. This dissertation presents a body of work that enhances the capabilities of visual sensing in photon-limited environments with an emphasis on low-light optic flow detection. We discuss the design and characterization of two optical sensors fabricated using complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) very large scale integration (VLSI) technology. The first is a frame-based, low-light, photon-counting camera module with which we demonstrate 1-D non-directional optic flow detection with fewer than 100 photons/pixel/frame. The second utilizes adaptive analog circuits to improve room-temperature short-wave infrared sensing capabilities. This work demonstrates a reduction in dark current of nearly two orders of magnitude and an improvement in signal-to-noise ratio of nearly 40dB when compared to similar, non-adaptive circuits. This dissertation also presents a novel simulation-based framework that enables benchmarking of optic flow algorithms in photon-limited environments. Using this framework we compare the performance of traditional optic flow processing algorithms to biologically-inspired algorithms thought to be used by flying insects such as the Megalopta genalis. This work serves to provide an understanding of what may be ultimately possible with optic flow sensors in low-light environments and informs the design of future low-light optic flow hardware

A CUBESAT COMPATIBLE ELECTRONICS PLATFORM FOR MINIATURIZED SINGLE PHOTON PAIR SOURCES

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

NASA Laser Light Scattering Advanced Technology Development Workshop, 1988

The major objective of the workshop was to explore the capabilities of existing and prospective laser light scattering hardware and to assess user requirements and needs for a laser light scattering instrument in a reduced gravity environment. The workshop addressed experimental needs and stressed hardware development

Simulation and Measurement of Multispectral Space Debris Light Curves

The accumulation of space debris has become one of the greatest threats facing the space industry to date. Through an increasing amount of objects deposited in Earth's orbit, such as rocket bodies, defunct satellites and general debris fragments, space missions are exposed to a growing risk of collisions. Moreover, the recent surge in commercial space applications is expected to further contribute to the problem. At the Institute of Technical Physics of Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Stuttgart, resident space objects are monitored using a number of telescopes through active laser and passive sunlight illumination. Due to the high altitude and relatively small size of the objects they generally appear as unresolved points in photometric images. An object's temporal variation in brightness is referred to as a light curve and implies key information concerning the object's shape, material composition and rotation. Recovering these parameters from light signals is not trivial and it is anticipated that additional information provided by multispectral observations will contribute to a more reliable characterization of space debris. This research covers the development of a physically based simulation to model multispectral light reflections from space debris. The software is targeted towards ground-based observations and is expected to form an integral part in facilitating future strategies for comprehensive collision avoidance and space debris removal. Both passive light curves and laser ranging measurements are simulated using three-dimensional satellite models. To improve the accuracy of simulations, spectral lab measurements of common space materials are incorporated into the render. Further, the process of gathering reference measurements using the DLR's 43 cm telescope at the Uhlandshöhe Forschungsobservatorium is presented. For the comparison between synthetic and empirical light curves, a detailed calibration of the optical system is performed. The validity of the light curve simulator is confirmed the on the basis of recordings obtained from radar calibration targets. Finally, simulated data is used to study benefits of multispectral observations for characterization and parameter estimation from space debris