Abstract
One possible way to improve the sensitivity of an optical or infrared detector is to use a laser as a preamplifier for the incoming radiation. This might be especially advantageous in the infrared region, where amplifier noise limits the ultimate sensitivity in the incoherent detection process. We shall here give a general treatment of the noise limitations in a laser preamplifier and show that the ultimate signal-to-noise performance is almost identical to that of a heterodyne detector.
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© 1978 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Kingston, R.H. (1978). Laser Preamplification. In: Detection of Optical and Infrared Radiation. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 10. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-35948-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-35948-7_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-15830-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-35948-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive