The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 13, 2008
Filed:
Mar. 20, 2006
Stephen A. Cerwin, Mico, TX (US);
David B. Chang, Tustin, CA (US);
Stephen A. Cerwin, Mico, TX (US);
David B. Chang, Tustin, CA (US);
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (US);
Abstract
A sensitive photon detection system generates an electronic photon sensor signal as a K factor times a number N photons per unit time. The system is configured by combining a separate optical amplifier with a gain factor Kwith a photo detector with a gain factor Ksuch that K may be realized as the product of Kand K. The values of Kand Kare chosen to meet a predetermined K while optimizing a signal quality of the photon sensor signal. The optical amplifier may be preceded by a photon gathering device and/or a light chopping device to further optimize system performance. Further, the photon sensor signal may be further processed analog circuitry or may be digitized and processed using digital signal processing to generate an enhanced photon sensor signal with enhanced signal quality by adding gain and/or bandwidth limiting.