Abstract: The recent progress in the device performance of the uni-traveling-carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) is described. The UTC-PD utilizes only electrons as the active carriers, and this unique feature is the key to achieving excellent high-speed and high-output characteristics simultaneously. The achieved performance includes a record 3-dB bandwidth of 310 GHz, high-power photonic millimeter-wave generation with an output power of over +13 dBm at 100 GHz, high-output-voltage photoreceiver operation at bit rates of up to 80 Gbit/s, and demultiplexing operation at 200 Gbit/s using a monolithic PD-EAM optical gate.

Abstract: Electrons moving in a conductor can transfer momentum to the lattice via collisions with impurities and boundaries, giving rise to a fluctuating mechanical stress tensor. The root-mean-squared momentum transfer per scattering event in a disordered metal (of dimension L greater than the mean free path l and screening length xi) is found to be reduced below the Fermi momentum by a factor of order l/L for shear fluctuations and (xi/L)^2 for pressure fluctuations. The excitation of an elastic bending mode by the shear fluctuations is estimated to fall within current experimental sensitivity for a nanomechanical oscillator.