PhotoDiode Sampling

[BrockLee]

I am curious how does the wavelength of light lets say 800nm/s collected by a photodiode results from the saturation of the plate 1mm. sq.

I have this photodiode from a cdrom and it has 6 legs, two do not have a bias-junction, the other four do, and the collector is slightly greenish. I dont know what kind of photodiode it is but its from a class two laser cdrom. I plugged in two junctions into my microphone port, unpowered, I dont know how to amplify this so i wont until i get advice, and I get a small peak around 30Hz, but thats about it. Is there any other sampling, like dividing the noise by multiples of expected light input?
thanks.

[vk6kro]

You will need to get data on that device before you can use it.

6 pins sounds more like an optocoupler than a photodiode.

You may even have a laser. These are Infra Red in a CD writer so you could damage your eyes without even knowing it was working. So, don't apply power to it until you are sure of what it is.

[BrockLee]

I did meter the legs and on 4 of them in any combination, Irecieved at full day light 35mV and close to zero when covered by my hands, now this is not too intuitive, but I think that its made to be amplifyed by two of the legs, and the other four, which have small black dots inbetween the traces leading them to the plate in the center, have to be transistor junctions. But I have no way of testing these junctions as I do not have a ICEO/ICBO tester.

[Topher925]

What package is the device in? Do you have a part number? If you don't know the pinout of the device and have already connected it to things like a microphone jack in full sun light its very possible that you may have already damaged it.

6 pins sounds more like an optocoupler than a photodiode.


I think its probably just a photodiode (or some photodetector) with a built amplifier.

[BrockLee]

What package is the device in? Do you have a part number? If you don't know the pinout of the device and have already connected it to things like a microphone jack in full sun light its very possible that you may have already damaged it.
I think its probably just a photodiode (or some photodetector) with a built amplifier.
No part number and package type is unidentifiable Silicone cased traces, So see through, with traces tintish looking.
If i had some battery's I would post a picture.