Optical receiver with threshold voltage compensation

1. An optical receiver comprising:

a. an optical detector having an input that is positioned to detect an optical data signal, the optical detector generating a voltage at an output that is proportional to an optical intensity of the optical data signal;

b. a differential amplifier having a data input that is electrically connected to the output of the optical detector and a decision threshold voltage signal input, the differential amplifier generating a data signal at a data output and an inverse data signal at a data_bar output; and

c. a decision threshold voltage signal generator having an output that is coupled to the decision threshold voltage signal input of the differential amplifier, the decision threshold voltage signal generator measuring a difference between the data signal and the inverse data signal and generating a decision threshold voltage signal from the measurement having an amplitude that causes the differential amplifier to maintain a substantially constant differential voltage between the data signal and the inverse data signal generated by the differential amplifier that is independent of an amplitude of the data signal, thereby reducing a bit error rate during fluctuations in the intensity of the optical data signal.

2. The optical receiver of claim 1 wherein the optical detector comprises a photodetector that generates a photocurrent in response to the optical data signal and a transimpedance amplifier that generates the voltage that is proportional to the optical intensity of the optical data signal from the photocurrent.

3. The optical receiver of claim 2 wherein the photodetector comprises a PIN photodiode.

4. The optical receiver of claim 2 wherein the photodetector comprises an Avalanche Photo-Diode (APD).

5. The optical receiver of claim 2 wherein the transimpedance amplifier comprises a substantially linear transimpedance amplifier that generates a voltage that is linearly proportional to the optical intensity of the optical data signal.

6. The optical receiver of claim 1 further comprising a second differential amplifier having a first input that is electrically connected to the data output of the differential amplifier and second input that is electrically connected to the data_bar output of the differential amplifier, the second differential amplifier generating an amplified data signal with a predetermined gain at a data output and generating an amplified inverse data signal with a predetermined gain at a data_bar output.

7. The optical receiver of claim 1 further comprising a first electrical filter electrically connected to the data output of the differential amplifier and a second electrical filter electrically connected to the data_bar output of the differential amplifier.

8. The optical receiver of claim 7 wherein at least one of the first and the second electrical filters comprises a Bessel-Thomson filter.

9. The optical receiver of claim 1 wherein the decision threshold voltage signal generator comprises an integrator that integrates the differential voltage between the data signal and the inverse data signal to generate the decision threshold voltage signal.

10. A method of receiving an optical data signal, the method comprising:

a. generating a voltage detection signal proportional to an intensity of the optical data signal;

b. generating a decision threshold voltage signal by measuring a difference between the optical data signal and an inverse of the optical data signal; and

c. generating a data signal and an inverse data signal that are proportional to a difference between the voltage detection signal and the decision threshold voltage signal, wherein the decision threshold voltage signal is chosen to maintain a substantially constant differential voltage between the data signal and the inverse data signal independent of an amplitude of the data signal, thereby reducing bit error rate during fluctuations in the intensity of the optical data signal.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the voltage detection signal is linearly proportional to the intensity of the optical data signal.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the generating the voltage proportional to the intensity of the optical data signal comprises detecting the optical data signal with a photodetector and converting a photocurrent generated by the photodetector into a voltage with a transimpedance amplifier.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the generating the voltage proportional to the intensity of the optical data signal comprises generating a voltage that is linearly related to the intensity of the optical data signal.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising integrating the differential voltage between the data signal and the inverse data signal to generate the decision threshold voltage signal.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising filtering at least one of the data signal and the inverse data signal to improve at least one of an electrical return loss and a differential group delay.

16. An optical receiver comprising:

a. a means for generating a voltage detection signal proportional to an intensity of a received optical data signal;

b. a means for generating a data signal and an inverse data signal that are proportional to a difference between the voltage detection signal and a decision threshold voltage signal,

c. a means for measuring a difference between the data signal and the inverse data signal; and

d. a means for adjusting the decision threshold voltage signal from the measurement of the difference between the data signal and the inverse data signal to maintain a substantially constant differential voltage between the data signal and the inverse data signal independent of an amplitude of the data signal.

17. The optical receiver of claim 16 wherein the voltage detection signal is linearly proportional to the intensity of the optical data signal.

18. The optical receiver of claim 16 further comprising a means for generating the decision threshold voltage signal.

19. The optical receiver of claim 18 wherein the means for generating the decision threshold voltage signal integrates the differential voltage between the data signal and the inverse data signal.

20. The optical receiver of claim 16 further comprising a means for filtering at least one of the data signal and the inverse data signal.