Photodiode-Based Detector Operates at 60 GHz

With the recent advancement of gigabit fiber communication and the photonic distribution of microwave signals, there is a growing need to characterize the high-speed optical signals found in such systems. This task is typically accomplished with a high-speed photodetector followed by an instrument such as a sampling oscilloscope, a radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyzer, or a vector network analyzer. For the measurement to be a true representation of the actual signal, the speed or bandwidth of the combined measurement system should exceed that of the signal under test. The high-speed photodetector is thus an essential part of the system.