Noise
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Measurements of noise for various reset times and signal
levels during the
SWS instrument level tests resulted in the following characterization of
the noise behaviour of the F-P detector and integrating preamplifier system:
- Noise at low signal levels is independent of signal. Here, noise as
a function of reset time can be approximately modelled as the quadratic sum
of a constant read noise term and a dark current noise term increasing with
time. Deviations from this model exist but may be ignored for simple
sensitivity estimates
- At higher signal, SNR improves only with the root of the signal,
indicating dominance of shot noise.
For sensitivity calculations, this may be summarized as
with
the signal in
V/s and
dimensionless (happens to be equal to
the reset time in seconds).
The empirically determined noise parameters
(read noise, in
V/s)
(dark current noise, in
V/s), and
(signal shot noise,
V
/s
) for the two
F-P detector materials are summarized in Tab.
.

SWS Consortium
Tue Jul 30 15:56:20 MET DST 1996