The Propagation Of Noise Through Streak Systems

Abstract The influence of a streak tube system on the noise properties of the signal is analyzed. Thestreak system is modeled as a cascade of stochastic amplifiers and a system transfer functionfor the signal statistics developed in ternis of the Z transform of each stage. The output signalvariance is calculated from the model and compared with experimental data. 1. INTRODUCTIONIn a typical streak tube system, a pulse of light is converted into a streak on the phosphor ofthe tube, and this is recorded on film or by a CCD camera. The light pulse has random propertiescharacterized by Poisson statistics. In addition, each stage of the streak system has its own noise properties which contribute to the further degradation of the signal as it propagates through the streak system. The effects of stochastic amplifiers on random signals have been analyzed byZweig1 and by R.abbani, Shaw and Metter. In this study their results are applied to a cascadeddetector process that may include both amplification and loss.2. THEORYConsider a random signal, x, impinging on a linear detector whose response, y, is also stochas-tic(Figure 1). Given a detector output level of y, we estimate the input level, x, as