High-Speed Photodetector With Simultaneous Electrical Power Generation

We demonstrate a novel 850 nm high-speed photodetector for simultaneous high-speed data acquisition and electrical power generation from the optical signal. The device is based on GaAs/AlGaAs modified uni-traveling carrier photodetector (MUTC-PD). Compared with the traditional p-i-n photodetector with the same absorber thickness, the MUTC device sustains a high 3 dB bandwidth of 11.9 GHz and a power conversion efficiency of 38.5% under a forward bias of +0.7 V. This outstanding performance is achieved by first adopting the MUTC structure on LPC devices. The device is expected to have applications for simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer. Our approach extends the high-speed detection to the forward bias region and may provide a potential solution for next-generation combined power and data transceiver modules.