Characterization of Advanced Avalanche Photodiodes for Water Vapor Lidar Receivers

Résumé du livre

Development of advanced differential absorption lidar (DIAL) receivers is very important to increase the accuracy of atmospheric water vapor measurements. A major component of such receivers is the optical detector. In the near-infrared wavelenght range avalanche photodiodes (APD's) are the best choice for higher signal-to-noise ratio, where there are many water vapor absorption lines. In this study, characterization experiments were performed to evaluate a group of silicon-based APD's. The APD's have different structures representative of different manufacturers. The experiments include setups to calibrate these devices, as well as characterization of the effects of voltage bias and temperature on the responsivity, surface scans, noise measurements, and frequency response measurements. For each experiment, the setup, procedure, data analysis, and results are given and discussed.