A high sensitivity detector for underwater communication systems

Abstract

We demonstrate an AlInP detector grown on lattice-matched GaAs substrate for underwater communication applications. This detector has a narrow inherent spectral response of 22 nm with central wavelength at ~ 480 nm and is capable of having avalanche gain of ~ 20 which gives peak responsivity of ~ 2 A/W. A much higher multiplication of ~167 was shown in the previous work. The full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) and responsivity of this detector is fairly insensitive to the angle of the incident light. These properties enable it to detect an optical signal at 480 nm even in the presence of high background illumination.