optical receiver

An optical receiver converts the light signal extracted from an optical fiber into an electrical signal. It also amplifies and demodulates it.

One of the main electronic components of an optical amplifier is the O/E converter, which is a photodiode or phototransistor such as the PIN diode or APD diode that converts the received light signal into an electrical signal.

The optical receiver's receiving characteristics are matched to the optical fiber and it has a selective detection region several hundred microns in size that picks up the incident light. Since the modulated light signals are extremely weak, the converted electrical signals must be amplified with highly sensitive low- noise operational amplifiers. Signal conditioning is performed in downstream electronic circuits.