On the Signal-to-Noise Ratio for Optical Heterodyne Detection

Abstract
The conventional result for the signal‐to‐noise ratio in an optical heterodyne detector is shown to apply to the mixing of a stable local oscillator with any radiation field which gives rise to a stationary narrow‐band i.f. signal. The result is explicitly demonstrated for radiation scattered from a diffuse target, which may be represented as a narrow‐band Gaussian random process.

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