Performance of Optical Detection Systems

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Abstract
The power transfer efficiency between a light source and the electrooptical transducer is exceedingly small in ordinary optical detection systems. Any increase in this efficiency would improve the performance considerably. The performance of optical detection systems has been investigated on the rounds of shot-noise limitation. In discussions of means of obtaining high signal-to-noise ratios at wide electronic bandwidth, the importance of a high geometric flux in detection systems becomes apparent. Various methods of determining the rms noise in the signal are compared; also, instrumental parameters of a specific design for fluorescence detection are given. The limitations of the specific design have been determined and discussed, both from the electronic standpoint and from that of the physicochemist, using such an instrument for fast measurements of chemical parameters.