Receiver with optical thyristors operating at 155 Mbit/s with 3 femto-Joule optical inputs

A receiver for digital optical inputs is presented which is based on a differential pair of optical thyristors. Modification of the conventional differential pair allows the electrical readout of its ON and OFF states. Optical input pulses with an energy of about 3 femto-Joule (at a wavelength of 830 nm) are sufficiently large for detection. In its present size, the receiver works up to 155 Mbit/s.