Patent ID: 8867929

Claim:
An optical receiver comprising: a) an optical detector that detects an optical signal and generates a photocurrent at an output that represents a power of the detected optical signal; b) a transimpedance amplifier having an input coupled to the output of the optical detector, the transimpedance amplifier generating a voltage signal corresponding to the photocurrent; c) an offset voltage generator having an output that is coupled to a second input of the transimpedance amplifier, the offset voltage generator generating an offset voltage at the output that biases the voltage signal generated by the transimpedance amplifier; d) a switch having a first input electrically connected to the output of the transimpedance amplifier and a second input electrically connected to the output of the offset voltage generator, the switch switching one of the voltage signal generated by the transimpedance amplifier and the offset voltage to an output in response to a control signal applied to a control input of the switch; and e) a subtractor having an input coupled to the output of the switch, the subtractor subtracting the offset voltage signal from the voltage signal generated by the transimpedance amplifier voltage signal, thereby recovering the voltage signal corresponding to the photocurrent that represents the power of the detected optical signal.