Abstract
Detection of light pulses with high reliability (missed and false pulse probabilities of <10−4) by the best available detectors is shown to require detector current pulses containing at least thirty-three electrons. For deep-red (900-nm) light, this requires light pulses containing at least 660 photons. A large area (5.1-cm2) avalanche photodiode has been evaluated and has been found to be comparable with photomultipliers for deep-red pulse lightwave communication.
© 1986 Optical Society of America
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Daniel G. Fouche
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C. A. Murray and S. B. Dierker
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 3(12) 2151-2159 (1986)
F. Robben
Appl. Opt. 10(4) 776-796 (1971)