Radiation Hardened Integrated Optic Photodetector Using

PHYSICAL OPTICS CORPORATION PROPOSES TO FABRICATE AN EXTREMELY HIGH SPEED (PICOSECOND) AND HIGH SENSITIVITY INTEGRATED OPTIC PHOTODETECTOR. THIS DETECTOR IS IMMUNE TO ANY ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE IS PIGTAILED TO OPTICAL FIBER FOR HIGH SPEED INFORMATION TRANSFER TO A RADIATION FREE LOCATION. THE PROPOSED DEVICE INCORPORATED THE NOVEL BANDGAP ENGINEERED SUPERLATTICE STRUCTURE OF A HETEROJUNCTION BIPOLAR PHOTOTRANSISTOR IN COMBINATION WITH AN INTEGRATED OPTIC WAVEGUIDE INTERFEROMETER. POC'S DEVICE PROVIDES A NATURAL HIGH SPEED OPERATION DUE TO ITS VERTICAL STRUCTURE, LARGE CURRENT DENSITY FOR HIGH SENSITIVITY OPERATION, AND HIGH TRANSCONDUCTANCE (Gm) FOR HIGH CURRENT GAIN. THE DEVICE IS INTEGRATED WITH AN OPTICAL THREE GUIDE COUPLER MACH-ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER TO TRANSPORT THE DETECTOR INFORMATION BY LIGHT. THE PHOTO-GENERATED EMITTER-TO-COLLECTOR CURRENT GENERATES A CHANGE IN THE INDEX OF REFRACTION OF ONE ARM OF THE INTERFEROMETER AND THEREFORE CHANGES THE LIGHT INTENSITY AT THE OUTPUT. OPC WILL BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN HIGH SPEED SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES AND INTEGRATED OPTICS BY BUILDING THIS HIGHLY INTEGRATED PHOTODETECTOR.