A fiber-optically triggered avalanche transistor

Author

Baker, R. Jacob ; Perryman, Gregory T. ; Watts, Phillip W.

Author_Institution

E.G. & G. Energy Measurements, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Volume

40

Issue

3

fYear

1991

fDate

6/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

649

Lastpage

652

Abstract

A silicon bipolar transistor operating in the avalanche region was optically triggered into secondary breakdown. This transistor has been given the name fiber-optically triggered avalanche transistor (FOTAT). The FOTAT acts as an optical power discriminator. That is, secondary breakdown occurs when the triggering optical power exceeds the triggering threshold of the FOTAT. This secondary breakdown is seen as a negative resistance between the collector and emitter. High voltage (>100 V) nanosecond transition duration pulses are generated using this negative resistance

Keywords

bipolar transistors; electric breakdown of solids; fibre optics; pulse generators; 100 V; Si bipolar transistor; fiber-optically triggered avalanche transistor; nanosecond transition; negative resistance; optical power discriminator; pulse generator; secondary breakdown; triggering threshold; Circuit testing; Electric breakdown; Fiber nonlinear optics; Instruments; Jitter; Nonlinear optics; Optical fibers; Optical pulse generation; Packaging; Stimulated emission;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.87038

Filename

87038