초록 ▼

A non-saturating receiver design and clamping structure for high power laser rangefinders of especial utility with respect to pumped, monoblock lasers. The receiver comprises a photodiode and a transimpedance amplifier having at least first and second stages. The first stage comprises a field effect

A non-saturating receiver design and clamping structure for high power laser rangefinders of especial utility with respect to pumped, monoblock lasers. The receiver comprises a photodiode and a transimpedance amplifier having at least first and second stages. The first stage comprises a field effect transistor and the second stage comprises a non-saturating, non-inverting amplification stage including a differential pair of bipolar transistors having a feedback path coupling the second stage to the input of the first stage. A clamping structure for the receiver comprises a resistor coupling a cathode of the photodiode to a first voltage input and a clamping diode also coupling the cathode to a second lower voltage input. A capacitor having a capacitance Cs couples the cathode of the photodiode to a reference voltage line, wherein the capacitance Cs is greater than the capacitance of the photodiode CD.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A clamping structure for a laser rangefinder receiver comprising: a photodiode for detecting laser energy having a capacitance Cd, said photodiode having an anode coupled to an input of a transimpedance amplifier;a resistor coupling a cathode of said photodiode to a first voltage input;a clamping

1. A clamping structure for a laser rangefinder receiver comprising: a photodiode for detecting laser energy having a capacitance Cd, said photodiode having an anode coupled to an input of a transimpedance amplifier;a resistor coupling a cathode of said photodiode to a first voltage input;a clamping diode coupling said cathode of said photodiode to a second voltage input; anda capacitor having a capacitance Cs coupling said cathode of said photodiode to a reference voltage line, wherein capacitance Cs is greater than capacitance Cd,wherein said transimpedance amplifier comprises at least first and second stages said first stage comprising a field effect transistor having a gate terminal thereof coupled to said anode of said photodiode and said second stage comprising a non-saturating, non-inverting amplification stage. 2. The clamping structure of claim 1 wherein capacitance Cs is substantially greater than capacitance Cd. 3. The clamping structure of claim 1 wherein a voltage applied to said first voltage input is greater than a voltage applied to said second voltage input. 4. The clamping structure of claim 1 wherein said second stage of said transimpedance amplifier comprises a differential pair of first and second bipolar transistors having respective collector terminals thereof coupled to a supply voltage line and respective emitter terminals thereof coupled to said reference voltage line. 5. The clamping structure of claim 4 further comprising: a feedback resistor coupling said collector terminal of said second bipolar transistor to said gate terminal of said field effect transistor. 6. The clamping structure of claim 1 further comprising: a laser signal transmitter associated with said laser rangefinder receiver. 7. The clamping structure of claim 6 wherein said laser signal transmitter comprises a pumped laser. 8. The clamping structure of claim 7 wherein said pumped laser comprises a monoblock laser.