Calibration of the receiver channel for the GOPEX precursor experiments
Abstract
Calibration measurements for the cooled (253 K) photomultiplier tube (PMT) detector, used on the receiver channel of the transmit/receive (T/R) switch for GOPEX, were conducted in the laboratory. A pulsed frequency-doubled neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser was used to direct 532-mn light on the PMT. By monitoring the energy per pulse of the light incident on the PMT, the minimum number of photons detected could be determined. These results agreed with the photon flux back-calculated from the PMT output waveform. Approximately 700 incident photons arriving during a temporal pulse width of approximately 65 nsec were detected with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of approximately 1. Other receiver channel characteristics, such as PMT dark currents, optical transmission, and interference filter sensitivity to angle of light incidence, were also measured.
- Publication:
-
The Telecommunications and Data Acquisition Report
- Pub Date:
- August 1993
- Bibcode:
- 1993tdar.nasa..205B
- Keywords:
-
- Calibrating;
- Photomultiplier Tubes;
- Receivers;
- Signal Reception;
- Signal Transmission;
- Light Transmission;
- Photons;
- Pulse Duration;
- Pulsed Lasers;
- Signal To Noise Ratios;
- Waveforms;
- Communications and Radar