Ultra-sensitive UV solar-blind optical wireless communications with an SiPM

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Optical Communications
• Semiconductor Devices

Background:

• Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are crucial for detecting low light levels.
• Reducing dark count rate (DCR) is essential for improving SiPM sensitivity and performance.
• Optical wireless communication (OWC) systems require sensitive detectors for efficient data transmission.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a cooled SiPM for enhanced performance in solar-blind wavelength detection.
• To establish an OWC system utilizing the cooled SiPM for high-speed data transmission.
• To evaluate the system's performance at ultra-low received power levels.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a dedicated cooling system to reduce SiPM operating temperature from 21°C to -10°C.
• Establishment of a 275 nm OWC system employing on-off-keying (OOK) modulation.
• Testing data transmission rates from 100 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s with the cooled SiPM.

Main Results:

• The cooling system reduced the SiPM's dark count rate (DCR) by approximately 10 dB.
• Data transmission rates up to 2 Mbit/s were successfully demonstrated.
• The system achieved a received power as low as 30 pW (41.5 photons/bit) at 1 Mbit/s with a bit error rate of 2.4 × 10^-3.

Conclusions:

• A cooled SiPM significantly enhances performance for solar-blind OWC systems.
• The developed system demonstrates the feasibility of ultra-low-power, high-speed optical wireless communication.
• This technology holds potential for applications requiring sensitive light detection and efficient data transfer in specific spectral ranges.