Detection statistics and error performance of SPAD-based optical receivers

Elham Sarbazi; Harald Haas

doi:10.1109/PIMRC.2015.7343412

Detection statistics and error performance of SPAD-based optical receivers

Elham Sarbazi, Harald Haas

Electronic And Electrical Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution book

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents the characterization of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) for optical communication applications. SPAD-based optical receivers can provide a significantly improved single-photon detection sensitivity compared with conventional photodiodes. However, an undesirable dead time introduced by the quenching circuit decreases the performance of these receivers. Using a precise analysis, we show that in the presence of dead time, the photon arrival process does not follow a Poisson process. Also, the effective count rate is evaluated and shown to depend critically on dead time. The effect of SPAD dead time on the error performance of an on-off keying (OOK) modulation optical communication system is also investigated. It is shown that, when background counts due to dark current and afterpulsing are small, the performance degradation of the SPAD-based receiver due to dead time losses is negligible. However, for systems with considerable background counts, the bit error rate (BER) degrades rapidly with increasing dead time.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2015 IEEE 26th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015
Place of Publication	Piscataway, N.J.
Pages	830-834
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9781467367820
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/PIMRC.2015.7343412
Publication status	Published - 3 Dec 2015
Event	26th IEEE Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015 - Hong Kong, China Duration: 30 Aug 2015 → 2 Sept 2015

Conference

Conference	26th IEEE Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015
Country/Territory	China
City	Hong Kong
Period	30/08/15 → 2/09/15

Funding

Professor Harald Haas acknowledges support by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under Grant EP/K008757/1.

Keywords

on-off keying (OOK)
optical receivers
photon counting
Single photon avalanche diode (SPAD)

Access to Document

10.1109/PIMRC.2015.7343412

Cite this

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title = "Detection statistics and error performance of SPAD-based optical receivers",

abstract = "This paper presents the characterization of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) for optical communication applications. SPAD-based optical receivers can provide a significantly improved single-photon detection sensitivity compared with conventional photodiodes. However, an undesirable dead time introduced by the quenching circuit decreases the performance of these receivers. Using a precise analysis, we show that in the presence of dead time, the photon arrival process does not follow a Poisson process. Also, the effective count rate is evaluated and shown to depend critically on dead time. The effect of SPAD dead time on the error performance of an on-off keying (OOK) modulation optical communication system is also investigated. It is shown that, when background counts due to dark current and afterpulsing are small, the performance degradation of the SPAD-based receiver due to dead time losses is negligible. However, for systems with considerable background counts, the bit error rate (BER) degrades rapidly with increasing dead time.",

keywords = "on-off keying (OOK), optical receivers, photon counting, Single photon avalanche diode (SPAD)",

author = "Elham Sarbazi and Harald Haas",

year = "2015",

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doi = "10.1109/PIMRC.2015.7343412",

language = "English",

pages = "830--834",

booktitle = "2015 IEEE 26th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015",

note = "26th IEEE Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015 ; Conference date: 30-08-2015 Through 02-09-2015",

}

Sarbazi, E & Haas, H 2015, Detection statistics and error performance of SPAD-based optical receivers. in 2015 IEEE 26th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015., 7343412, Piscataway, N.J., pp. 830-834, 26th IEEE Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015, Hong Kong, China, 30/08/15. https://doi.org/10.1109/PIMRC.2015.7343412

TY - GEN

T1 - Detection statistics and error performance of SPAD-based optical receivers

AU - Sarbazi, Elham

AU - Haas, Harald

PY - 2015/12/3

Y1 - 2015/12/3

N2 - This paper presents the characterization of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) for optical communication applications. SPAD-based optical receivers can provide a significantly improved single-photon detection sensitivity compared with conventional photodiodes. However, an undesirable dead time introduced by the quenching circuit decreases the performance of these receivers. Using a precise analysis, we show that in the presence of dead time, the photon arrival process does not follow a Poisson process. Also, the effective count rate is evaluated and shown to depend critically on dead time. The effect of SPAD dead time on the error performance of an on-off keying (OOK) modulation optical communication system is also investigated. It is shown that, when background counts due to dark current and afterpulsing are small, the performance degradation of the SPAD-based receiver due to dead time losses is negligible. However, for systems with considerable background counts, the bit error rate (BER) degrades rapidly with increasing dead time.

AB - This paper presents the characterization of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) for optical communication applications. SPAD-based optical receivers can provide a significantly improved single-photon detection sensitivity compared with conventional photodiodes. However, an undesirable dead time introduced by the quenching circuit decreases the performance of these receivers. Using a precise analysis, we show that in the presence of dead time, the photon arrival process does not follow a Poisson process. Also, the effective count rate is evaluated and shown to depend critically on dead time. The effect of SPAD dead time on the error performance of an on-off keying (OOK) modulation optical communication system is also investigated. It is shown that, when background counts due to dark current and afterpulsing are small, the performance degradation of the SPAD-based receiver due to dead time losses is negligible. However, for systems with considerable background counts, the bit error rate (BER) degrades rapidly with increasing dead time.

KW - on-off keying (OOK)

KW - optical receivers

KW - photon counting

KW - Single photon avalanche diode (SPAD)

U2 - 10.1109/PIMRC.2015.7343412

DO - 10.1109/PIMRC.2015.7343412

M3 - Conference contribution book

AN - SCOPUS:84958053858

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EP - 834

BT - 2015 IEEE 26th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015

CY - Piscataway, N.J.

T2 - 26th IEEE Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications, PIMRC 2015

Y2 - 30 August 2015 through 2 September 2015

ER -

Detection statistics and error performance of SPAD-based optical receivers

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Keywords

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