Thewritingofthisbookhasbeeninspiredbytheexperienceofteachinga courseonDetectionandSignalProcessingtograduatestudentsoveraperiod ofmanyyears. Itwasstrikingthatstudentswerenotonlyfascinatedbythe variousdetectionprinciplesandtechnicalperformancesofpracticalsystems, butalsobytheprofessionalismoftheinvolved typical physicalengine- ing. Usuallystudentsarethoroughlytaughtindi?erentcoursesofphysics, whicharemostlystudiedasisolated?elds. Thecourseondetectionands- nalprocessingisbasedontypicalresultsthatwereestablishedindi?erent disciplines like optics, solid state physics, thermodynamics, mathematical statistics, Fouriertransforms, andelectroniccircuitry. Theirsimultaneousand interdependentapplicationbroadenstheinsightofmutualrelationsinthev- ious?elds. Forinstancethe?uctuationsofthermalbackgroundradiationcan bederivedeitherwiththeblackbodytheoryorindependentlywithther- dynamicstoarriveatthesameresult. AlsotheappliedFourierrelationsin thefrequencyandtimedomainsarenolongerabstractmathematicalman- ulationsbutpracticaltoolsandprobablyeasiertounderstandintheapplied technique. Estimatesoftheorderofmagnitudeswithcomparisonofrelevant physicale?ectsnecessarybydesigningadeviceareveryinstructive. Ingeneral theachievementsofvariousdisciplinesarebroughttogethertodesignandto evaluatequantitativelythetechnicalperformancesofdetectiontechniques. Thustheinterestfordetectionandsignalprocessingisbothtolearnthe knowledgefordesigningpracticaldetectionsystemsandtogetacquainted withthethinkingofphysicalengineering. The?rstpartofthebookisdevotedtonoisephenomenaandradiation detectors. Fundamentaldescriptionswithquantitativeanalysesoftheund- lyingphysicalprocessesofbothdetectorsandaccompanyingnoiseleadto understandthepotentialswithrespecttosensitivityandoperatingfrequency domain. Thesecondpartdealswithampli?cationproblemsandtherecovery ofrepetitivesignalsburiedinnoise. Thelastpartisdevotedtosolvingthe problemsconnectedwithreachingtheultimatedetectionlimitorquantum limit. Thisisdoneforheterodynedetectionandphotoncounting. Although VIII Preface heterodynedetectionyieldstheultimatesensitivity, itsspatialmodesel- tivityand, ingeneral, thelowspectralpowerdensityofthesignalrequire sophisticatedprovisions. Thisisdiscussedindetail. Theinherentproblemsare analyzedandappropriatetechnicalsolutionsaredescribedtoreachtheul- matesensitivityfordetectingincoherentradiationandcommunicationsignals thatarerandomlyDopplershifted. Theresultsareillustratedwithexamples ofspacecommunication. Hengelo(O), January2006 W. J. Witteman Contents 1 RandomFluctuations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 2 ThermalNoiseofResistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1. 3 ShotNoise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. 3. 1 SpectralDistribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. 3. 2 Photons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1. 4 FlickerNoise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1. 5 Generation-RecombinationNoise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1. 6 ThermalRadiationandItsFluctuations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1. 7 TemperatureFluctuationsofSmallBodies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 1. 7. 1 AbsorptionandEmissionFluctuations. . . .
W. J. Witteman has been professor in laser physics at the University of Twente (The Netherlands) from 1969 until 1999. Next to numerous articles in the field of CO2-lasers, excimer lasers and free electron lasers he has published:
In 1987 "The CO2 Laser" (Springer Series in Optical Sciences, Vol.54)
In 1996 as co-author "Gas Lasers-Recent Developments and Future Prospects" (Kluwer Academic Publishers)
In 2004 as co-author "Handbook of Laser Technology & Applications" (Institute of Physics Publishing). He was the author of the chapter on "Excimer, F2, N2 and H2 Lasers".
