Methods for Detecting Weak Light Signals

R. R. Alfano; N. Ockman

doi:10.1364/JOSA.58.000090

Journal of the Optical Society of America
Vol. 58,
Issue 1,
pp. 90-95
(1968)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSA.58.000090

Methods for Detecting Weak Light Signals

R. R. Alfano and N. Ockman

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R. R. Alfano and N. Ockman, "Methods for Detecting Weak Light Signals," J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58, 90-95 (1968)

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Abstract

Theoretical and experimental evaluation of three low-level photodetection techniques, namely, lock-in, noise-voltage, and electron-pulse counting are presented. The 992 cm⁻¹ Raman band of benzene excited by a 4.2-mW He–Ne laser operating at 6328 Å provided a weak light signal which was detected by an EMI 9558 A, cooled photomultiplier. The electron-pulse-counting method employing a pulse-height discriminator was found to be superior to the other methods with regard to both signal sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio.

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	Lock-in	Noise voltage	Electron pulse counting
(S/N)_Theor.	${(\frac{2 {I_{A}}^{2}}{e u B_{f} (I_{A} + I_{d})})}^{\frac{1}{2}}$	${(\frac{4 {I_{A}}^{2}}{e u B_{f} (I_{A} + I_{d})})}^{\frac{1}{2}}$	$n_{s} τ / {[(n_{s} + n_{d}) τ]}^{\frac{1}{2}} = {I_{A}}^{'} / {[e μ B_{f} ({I_{A}}^{'} + {I_{d}}^{'})]}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ ^a
(S/N)_observed (peak-peak noise)	8.2	27	32
(S/N)_observed (rms noise)	41	135	160
Observed signal	I_A=6.0 ×10⁻¹¹ A	I_A=16×10⁻¹¹ A	n_s=650 counts/sec; I_A′=10.4×10⁻¹¹ A
Collected light power	2.5×10⁻¹⁵ W	6.7×10⁻¹⁵ W	4.3×10⁻¹⁵ W
Dark current or count	I_d=2.3×10⁻¹⁰ A	I_d=3.1×10⁻¹⁰ A	n_d=40 counts/sec; I_d′=6.4×10⁻¹² A
Minimum detectable signal	1.4×10⁻¹² A	1.0×10⁻¹² A	2 counts/sec; 3.2×10⁻¹³ A
Minimum detectable light power	5.7×10⁻¹⁷ W	4×10⁻¹⁷ W	1.3×10⁻¹⁷ W

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Journal of the Optical Society of America