The influence of space irradiated PIN photodetector on BER in satellite laser communication system

By analyzing the radiation dose on PIN photodetectors in space radiation environment, the variation of photocurrent and dark current after radiation is obtained. On the basis, the bit error rate of satellite laser communication based on space radiation dose of PIN photodetectors is established. According to simulation, when radiation dose is about 1.6 × 103 Gy and 7 × 104 Gy, bit error rate reaches 10−6 induced by 50 MeV and 10 MeV protons separately; and when radiation dose is within the range of 5 × 10 Gy–6 × 105 Gy, electrons and gamma-ray irradiation also cause increase in bit error rate to 10−6. The principle of damage dose on bit error rate is investigated, and the influence of decision threshold on bit error rate is further discussed. The result shows that when radiation dose is 1 MGy, if decision threshold is increased from 4.3 × 10−7 A to 5.5 × 10−7 A, bit error rate will decrease about 4 orders of magnitude. Hence, a proper decision threshold can improve system bit error rate efficiently.