Datasheet: 580-MHz NIR InGaAs/InAlAs APD Receivers In Hermetic Package With Thermoelectric Cooling: Voxtel RDI-1XJ0A Series

The RDI-1XJ0A is a low-noise photoreceiver based on Voxtel's VFI-1000 series of reduced-noise avalanche photodiodes (R-APDs). The combination of a low-noise Voxtel photodiode with a low-noise transimpedance amplifier (TIA) produces a photoreceiver with industry-leading noise levels and maximum bandwidth.

Voxtel's R-APDs are designed to deliver the best possible sensitivity for high-bandwidth near infrared (NIR) and short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) optical applications. With low avalanche noise and high quantum efficiency over the 950–1700 nm spectral band, including the eye-safe wavelengths greater than 1400 nm, Voxtel's VFI-1000-series InGaAs R-APDs provide enhanced responsivity relative to p-i-n photodiodes and lower noise relative to conventional APDs. Conventional APDs achieve high responsivity through internal current gain, but the usefulness of the gain of these APDs is undermined by the accompanying noise, making them useless at high gain. Voxtel's thin InAlAs multiplication region InGaAs APD technology suppresses the excess multiplication noise associated with the avalanche process, improving the signal- to-noise ratio of the detector (see the plot of excess noise vs. gain in the datasheet). Lower avalanche noise means the devices can be operated at higher gain.