Theoretical Signal-to-noise Ratio and Resolution in Ion-cyclotron-resonance Spectroscopy

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Abstract
A comparison is made theoretically of the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio between the usual slow-sweep or the continuous-wave method and the pulsed Fourier-transform (FT) method in ion-cyclotron-resonance spectroscopy. Expressions of the maximum S/N ratio, as characterized by experimental parameters, are given in concrete form for both methods. Based on these expressions, it is shown that the FT method has a Fellgett S/N advantage when the resolution of a measurement is selected so as to be nearly equal to the true linewidth. A tradeoff between the S/N ratio and the resolution is discussed, and a possible reconciliation is suggested of inconsistent statements on a relation between the S/N and the resolution in the literature.