Accurate Calibration and Measurement of Optoelectronic Devices

Frequency responses of optoelectronic devices are essential to obtain the precise performance of electrical-to-optical-to-electrical signal conversion or optical signal processing. We reviewed the development of optical or electrical measurement methods proposed for characterizing electrical/optical (E/O) devices, optical/electrical (O/E) devices and optical/optical (O/O) devices in the frequency domain from the perspective of accurate calibration standard. It has been found that full calibrated E/O or O/E measurement requires at least an optoelectronic thru standard for the conversion between optical and electrical domains, and an electrical port extension for de-embedding the error or adapter network of microwave source or detector. The indetermination problem still exists in most O/E and E/O device characterization, which appears in different forms for different measurement techniques. Nevertheless, it should be noticed that obtaining an optoelectronic thru standard can be transferred to characterizing a microwave source or detector in the electrical domain, and a precise electrical calibration standard is much easier to be obtained as compared with an optoelectronic calibration standard. Therefore, the calibration standard transfer from optical to electrical domain is a prominent approach to solve the indetermination problem.

Automated summary

This paper reviews the development of optical or electrical measurement methods for characterizing frequency responses of optoelectronic devices. It highlights the importance of accurate calibration standards and addresses the indetermination problem in E/O and O/E device characterization. The transfer of calibration standards from optical to electrical domain is emphasized as a prominent approach to solve this issue.