Optical interconnections to focal plane arrays

Rienstra, J.L. ; Hinckley, M.K.

Sandia National Laboratories

关键词: Signal-To-Noise Ratio;    Photodetectors;    Replicas;    99 General And Miscellaneous//Mathematics, Computing, And Information Science;    Wave Forms;   

DOI  :  10.2172/769029
RP-ID  :  SAND2000-2882
RP-ID  :  AC04-94AL85000
RP-ID  :  769029

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The authors have successfully demonstrated an optical data interconnection from the output of a focal plane array to the downstream data acquisition electronics. The demonstrated approach included a continuous wave laser beam directed at a multiple quantum well reflectance modulator connected to the focal plane array analog output. The output waveform from the optical interconnect was observed on an oscilloscope to be a replica of the input signal. They fed the output of the optical data link to the same data acquisition system used to characterize focal plane array performance. Measurements of the signal to noise ratio at the input and output of the optical interconnection showed that the signal to noise ratio was reduced by a factor of 10 or more. Analysis of the noise and link gain showed that the primary contributors to the additional noise were laser intensity noise and photodetector receiver noise. Subsequent efforts should be able to reduce these noise sources considerably and should result in substantially improved signal to noise performance. They also observed significant photocurrent generation in the reflectance modulator that imposes a current load on the focal plane array output amplifier. This current loading is an issue with the demonstrated approach because it tends to negate the power saving feature of the reflectance modulator interconnection concept.