Editorial Introduction to JSTQE Special Issue on Optical Detectors

The papers in this special section focus on optical detectors. The photon to electron conversion is a key operation in photonic systems whether they operate over optical signals or whether optics is employed as an auxiliary technology to improve the resilience against losses, noise, or bandwidth restrictions in other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Different mechanisms have been reported ever since the demonstration of the photoelectric effect by Einstein back in 1905 and especially since the emergence of semiconductor PN junctions and transistors, back in 1948. The last 5 decades have witnessed the development of refined configurations based on heterostructures, quantum wells, and uni-carrier operation yielding impressive results in terms of bandwidth, noise, and footprint.

Automated summary

The papers in this special section focus on optical detectors and the conversion from photons to electrons, which is a crucial operation in photonic systems. The development in the past five decades, especially based on heterostructures, quantum wells, and uni-carrier operation, has yielded impressive results in terms of bandwidth, noise, and footprint.