[Laser] Avalance photodiodes

Art [email protected]
Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:25:14 -0500


At 04:26 PM 1/25/04, you wrote:
>Hi all.
>
>Someone who spotted the laser content of my website has been kind enough to
>mail 3 Avalance photodiodes to me.  They are probably older obsolete types,
>(one is listed as the Centronic APD 05 4R) but could be quite useful.
>
>I've not seen any application circuits for this type of diode but I
>understand that they require a bias voltage of between 100 and 400 Volts. 
>The Centronic
>part has a sheet enclosed saying 385 volts. It also has a response figure at
>23Amps per Watt so it should be lot better than my OPT210 at 4A/W
>
>Has anyone seen an application note for an avalance diode?  e.g. How do I
>apply bias and then extract a signal while maintaing low noise. Or for the 
>two
>unspecified types does anyone know how I can find the optimum bias voltage
>without destroying the device?
>
>Regards
>
>David  G0MRF
>


I think the APD's need temperature control and strict regulation. I also 
think they can't do dc and low frequency AC although some go down to 5 Khz 
or so.

Burr-Brown has a very nice ap note on how to bias them using one of their 
low power  supplies and a cockcroft-walton voltage multiplier although 
their supply only goes up to 75 volts.

Laser Sam has some info on them in his laser faq, search for the homebrew 
ruby laser range finder project pumped by a disposable camera flashtube. 
The receiver part of the project uses an APD.

Others might have more recent exposure to them.

Have fun.

Art



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