Responsivity of ion-implanted p-n junction in a GaAs electroabsorption avalanche detector

The performance characteristics of an ion-implanted p-n junction electroabsorption avalanche detector (EAD) are reported. Wtih avalanche-assisted multiplication, the optical gain reaches value of over 500 and the devices achieved a peak responsibility of 200 A/W at a wavelength of 0.88 µm. Owing to the combination of the Franz-Keldysh effect with avalanche multiplication, a narrowband, i.e., self-filtering, response of 50 nm full-width half-magnitude was demonstrated. With a 50-Ω load the pulse response of this large-area EAD, i.e., 1.6 × 10^-2cm², is about 5-10 ns and is RC time constant limited.