Photodiode nonlinear modeling and its impact on optical links phase noise

The photodiode impact on the phase noise of an optical link, and particularly its ability to convert the laser amplitude noise into microwave phase noise, is studied and modeled. The model involves a nonlinear RC cell which describes a photogeneration delay which is a function of the optical power. The whole system is then implemented on a microwave CAD software, and the link gain and phase noise performance are computed.