Avalanche Photodiode Arrays for Optical Communications Receivers

An avalanche photodiode (APD) array for ground-based optical communications receivers is investigated for the reception of optical signals through the turbulent atmosphere. Kolmogorov phase screen simulations are used to generate realistic spatial distributions of the received optical field. It is shown that use of an APD array for pulse-position modulation detection can improve performance by up to 4 dB over single APD detection in the presence of turbulence, but that photon-counting detector arrays yield even greater gains.