Excess-noise and receiver sensitivity measurements of In/0.53/Ga/0.47/As/InP avalanche photodiodes

The results of excess-noise and normalised receiver sensitivity measurements for In/0.53/Ga/0.47/As/InP avalanche photodiodes for use in the lambda = 0.95 microns to 1.65 microns spectral region are reported. The excess-noise measurements are consistent with a hole-to-electron ionisation rate ratio in InP of approximately 0.4. The receiver sensitivity, measured at 45 Mbit/s and 10 to the -9 bit-error-rate, was -53.2 dBm at a gain of 20 assuming unity quantum efficiency for the detector. This sensitivity is the highest reported at lambda = 1.3 microns and represents an improvement over a PIN detector using the same amplifier.