Abstract
The three principal paradigms for high-sensitivity photodetection—direct detection, homodyne detection, and heterodyne detection—all have well-accepted quantum descriptions.1 Neglecting polarization and spatial characteristics, these descriptions are as follows: Unity-quantum-efficiency direct detection (continuous-time photon counting) of a photon-units positive-frequency field operator produces a classical-impulse-train stochastic process whose statistics are identical to those of the photon-flux quantum measurement, . Homodyne detection of this same field operator yields a classical stochastic process proportional to the quadrature-operator quantum measurement, , where is the complex envelope of bandlimited to B Hz and θIF is the local-oscillator phase. Heterodyne detection of É(t) produces a classical passband stochastic process proportional to , where is the B Hz image-band complex envelope and vIF is the intermediate frequency.
© 1997 Optical Society of America
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