This QPD circuit (D980325-C1 ) uses the nice OP497 Quad FET opamp as the transimpedance amplifier. It has a low enough current noise, such that we can increase the resistors (R1-4) up to 100k and still be Johnson noise limited. We should also make sure that the compensation caps (C3-6) are ~2.2 nF so as to not destabilize the opamp. f_low = 1/2/pi/R/C = 730 Hz.

I will do the swap later today unless someone else gets to it first. (note: check for oscillations w/ fast scope probe after installing)

I did these modification tonight. The slideshow of some images is attached. Instead of 100k, I used 97.6k thin film, since this seemed like an oddball size that doesn't get used otherwise. I forgot to measure the dark noise of the quadrants before doing the swap, but comparing the pit/yaw/sum before/after the swap shows that the signal is basically unchanged (since pit/yaw is normalized by SUM), but that the noise is lower by a factor of a few above 100 Hz due to being above ADC noise now. Previously, it was bottoming out at ~10 prad/rHz. Since the signal is unchanged, I guess that the calibration and therefore the loop gain should not have changed either...

And the sum went up by almost 10x as expected from the resistor change.