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8 - Optical Detection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2023

Gary G. Gimmestad  and
David W. Roberts
Gary G. Gimmestad
Affiliation:
Georgia Institute of Technology
David W. Roberts
Affiliation:
MicroDynamics LLC
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Summary

This chapter begins with a brief review of electronic circuitry and terminology because optical detection and signal processing are in the realm of electrical engineering. A detailed discussion of analog detection follows, with circuitry including transimpedance amplifiers and equivalent circuits for analyzing noise and bandwidth. Two electronic noise sources are introduced, Johnson noise and amplifier noise, and their effects on SNR are modeled. Photon counting is then discussed in terms of its instrumentation, advantages, and limitations. The basic principles of coherent detection are elucidated through a mathematical derivation, and the advantages of coherent detection are shown: high SNR, optical background discrimination, and the measurement of Doppler shifts to sense winds. The main types of detectors used in lidar systems are then discussed, including intrinsic and PIN photodiodes, photomultipliers, avalanche photodiodes, and single-photon avalanche diodes. The advantages of internal detector gain for optimizing SNR are quantified.

Keywords

photomultiplieravalanche photodiodedetector gainJohnson noiseamplifier noiseelectronic bandwidthdirect detectionphoton countingcoherent detectionanalog signal processing
Type
Chapter
Information
Lidar Engineering
Introduction to Basic Principles
 , pp. 204 - 245
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

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