Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Modeling of the nonlinear response of the intrinsic HgCdTe photoconductor by a two-level rate equation with a finite number of carriers available for photoexcitation

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

A description of the nonlinear response of a HgCdTe photoconductor on the incident optical radiation is derived from a two-level rate equation for the photoexcited carriers. The model accounts for a limited number of electrons available for photoexcitation, and the possibility of photostimulated relaxation of an already excited photoelectron. The detector response as well as the level of incident optical power where saturation occurs is directly related to the physical constants of the detector material. The saturation of the detector is the same phenomenon as is known for the saturable absorbers—the detector material becomes transparent when the incident optical power exceeds the saturation power. Even though the description given here is applied to the HgCdTe detector, the general model can be applied to other detector materials as well. The parameters for the model are fitted to a thermoelectrically cooled HgCdTe detector and afterwards employed to predict the detector noise performance in a heterodyne setup. Unlike for liquid-nitrogen-cooled detectors, shot-noise-limited detection cannot be obtained with use of only thermoelectrical cooling (226 K) of the detector. However, the detector performance can be optimized to be able to perform Doppler measurements from aerosol backscatter by use of the model presented to optimize the applied optical power in the reference wave.

© 2003 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article
More Like This
Development of a gallium-doped germanium far-infrared photoconductor direct hybrid two-dimensional array

Mikio Fujiwara, Takanori Hirao, Mitsunobu Kawada, Hiroshi Shibai, Shuji Matsuura, Hidehiro Kaneda, Mikhail Patrashin, and Takao Nakagawa
Appl. Opt. 42(12) 2166-2173 (2003)

Transient behavior of infrared photoconductors: application of a numerical model

Nancy M. Haegel, Jose C. Simoes, A. Michael White, and Jeffrey W. Beeman
Appl. Opt. 38(10) 1910-1919 (1999)

Optimum optical local-oscillator power levels for coherent detection with photodiodes

J. Fred Holmes and Badih J. Rask
Appl. Opt. 34(6) 927-933 (1995)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Figures (9)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Equations (34)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Equations are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved