VOLTAGE-TUNABLE NEAR-INFRARED PHOTODETECTOR - VERSATILE COMPONENT FOROPTICAL COMMUNICATION-SYSTEMS

We present a voltage-tunable wavelength-selective photodetector (VWP) for the near-infrared (NIR), realized by engineering the optical prope rties of Si and Ge. The structure exhibits a wide tunability by varyin g the applied voltage and weighting the photocurrents generated by two back-to-back diodes. We demonstrate its versatility in deconvolving s ignals of different wavelengths and a preliminary study on the applica tions of the VWP as a solid-state spectrum analyzer, The spectrum of N IR light impinging the device can be resolved from a set of photocurre nt measurements for different bias voltages. (C) 1998 American Vacuum Society.