The Behavior of the Intermodulation Distortions of Modified Uni-Traveling Carrier Photodiodes Produced by Bias Modulation

The effect of bias modulation on the nonlinear response of an InGaAs/InP modified uni-traveling carrier photodiode (MUTC-PD) with a high third-order intercept point (IP3) larger than 50 dBm is characterized using a bias modulation measurement setup. An analytical equivalent circuit model is developed to explain the frequency characteristics of the intermodulation distortions produced by the bias modulation and give insight into the limiting factor of the IP3 of MUTC-PD operating at high reverse bias. The bias modulation measurement also shows the potential of the same MUTC-PD to be used as a high-power photonic mixer operating at low bias. A high up-converted signal power of -10 dBm and a low conversion loss of -3 dB has been achieved at 12.1 GHz with the MUTC-PD.