Resonant Cavity Enhanced Thyristor-Based Photodetectors for Optical Receivers

摘要

A resonant-cavity thyristor photodetector based on the GaAs/AlGaAs material system is fabricated and characterized. The device is triggered with an optical input between a high impedance OFF-state and a low impedance ON-state. Peak linear slope efficiency of 4 A/W is obtained in the OFF-state at the resonant wavelength of 986.6 nm, and is greater than 1 A/W across a 5-nm spectral bandwidth. Operated as an optoelectronic switch, turn-ON is enabled with 20 μW of optical input power yielding a large-signal current gain of 125 and an output voltage of 1.9 V.