photon noise

Photon noise is the randomness{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}} in signal associated with photons arriving at a detector. For a simple black body emitting on an absorber, the noise-equivalent power is given by

: $\mathrm{NEP}^2 = 2 h^2 \nu^2 \Delta\nu \left( \frac{n}{\eta} + n^2 \right)$

where $h$ is the Planck constant, $\nu$ is the central frequency, $\Delta\nu$ is the bandwidth, $n$ is the occupation number and $\eta$ is the optical efficiency.

The first term is essentially shot noise whereas the second term is related to the bosonic character of photons, variously known as "Bose noise" or "wave noise". At low occupation number, such as in the visible spectrum, the shot noise term dominates. At high occupation number, however, typical of the radio spectrum, the Bose term dominates.

References

{{Citation

| last1 = Hanbury Brown

| first1 = R.

| last2 = Twiss

| first2 = R. Q.

| title = Interferometry of the intensity fluctuations in light - I. Basic theory: the correlation between photons in coherent beams of radiation

| journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society A

| volume = 242

| issue = 1230

| pages = 300–324

| date = 5 November 1957}}

{{cite journal

| last = Boyd

| first = Robert W.

| title = Photon Bunching and the Photon-Noise-Limited Performance of Infrared Detectors

| journal = Infrared Physics

| volume = 22

| issue = 3

| pages = 157–162

| date = May 1982| doi = 10.1016/0020-0891(82)90034-3

| bibcode = 1982InfPh..22..157B

}}

{{cite journal

| last = Zmuidzinas

| first = Jonas

| title = Thermal noise and correlations in photon detection

| journal = Applied Optics

| volume = 42

| issue = 25

| pages = 4989–5008

| date = 2003| doi = 10.1364/AO.42.004989

| pmid = 12962374

| bibcode = 2003ApOpt..42.4989Z

| url = https://authors.library.caltech.edu/8954/

| url-access = subscription

}}

photon noise

See also

References

Further reading