New Quadrant Receiver Houses Amplifiers In A Small Package

By Ron Grunsby

CMC Electronics has released a new quadrant receiver based on a 1-mm diameter quadrant InGaAs PIN with four transimpedance amplifiers and externally controlled automatic gain control (AGC) in a hermetically sealed TO-8 package.

“Coupling the quadrant receiver with amplifiers is a big deal,” Al Mottola, account manager, custom electronics, at CMC Electronics told Photonics Online. “It’s unique to the industry. By minimizing the distance between components, we are able to keep both the capacitance and inductance low to allow for higher bandwidths. There is also a mechanical advantage to our compact packaging in that there is a reduced moment of inertia, allowing for higher shock and vibration specs.”

The quadrant receiver features 25-MHz bandwidth, spectral response of 1000 to 1600 nm, eye-safe operating band (1550 nm), and common cathode configuration. The outputs can be AC or DC coupled to 100 ohms load. The AGC provides 40 dB dynamic range, and each amplifier has an overload input protection circuit for fast recovery.

“The biggest separator between our quadrant receiver and our competitors' is our receiver’s ability to recover very quickly to an overload input signal condition,” Mottola said. “It can recover in less than 500 ns and be ready for the next pulse. This means that there is no loss of data due to the sensor being ‘blinded’ by an intense laser signal, which is a major concern in terminal guidance applications.”

Additional applications include spot tracking, guidance, position sensing, target designation, fire detection, and free-space communication. More information, including a block diagram, product images, and additional specifications can be found in the datasheet. Customization is available to meet packaging requirements.