Background Noise Power Evaluation

Field collected at the lens input is defined in the aperture (receiver)

plane. The focused field is defined in the focal (detector) plane.
Focal plane is located at distance fc behind the aperture plane where fc
is the focal length. The field produced in the focal plane is often called
diffraction field [R.M.Gagliardi & S. Karp, Optical Communication,
Second Edition, Wiley 1995, p.39]

Receive plan ector plane

be

Fraunhofer diffraction takes place in focal plane for a well designed

receiver lens.
If f (t , r ) is received field over the aperture lens and fd(t,u,v) diffraction
field in focal plane then these two fields are related by
1
 ~

where Ed detector plane

④

r = (x,y) are the field coordinates in the aperture plane and (u,v) are the
field coordinates in the focal plane.
Consider a normal plane wave impinging on a- -
-
receiver lens of area A,
received field is then

to receiver plane

2
fd(t,v,v)
v-osJactieTwat expl-an(2n+y0)]dugin
=

za(t)2500tz(M,v).* yv)]dudy
exp) 2(xm
+

6
The resulting diffraction pattern in the focal plane is then obtained
directly by

where fdo(u,v) is spatial integral.

Diffraction pattern is simply the product of time-varying envelope

function and spatial function (defined by the phase factor τ(u,v) and
two-dimensional transform fdo(u,v)).

3
Rectangular Aperture Lens
Aperture lens is assumed to be rectangular with dimension (d,b) i.e, x  d
2
and y  b 2 . Spatial integral is

The resulting magnitude for the u coordinate is shown below. A single plot
exist along the v coordinate, with the two combing to produce a single
hump centered on the origin of the (u,v) plane [R.M.Gagliardi & S. Karp,
Optical Communication, Second Edition, Wiley 1995, p.42] .

#50
As area of apperature plane
Adu x
=

-
↑fC
u =
*
2477- 4f2
At 4
-

&
Circular Aperture Lens
A circular lens of diameter d is used, after calculating the transform of
fdo(u,v) by first converting to polar coordinates we get
"2
where p (ur,v2)
=

#d0 =
1.227

x5 1022x7
=
pp
where ρ = (u2 + v2)1/2 and J1(x) are Bessel functions [Gagliardi&Karp, p.42]

#fu

it
In both cases, diffraction pattern occupies a height of approximately A/λfc
and width of approximately 2λfc/d (i.e., width encompassed by the largest
hump) in the focal plane.
- >

diameterdetector lens 5
of I - number
=
If focal length fc has same size as that of lens width d (fc/d is lens f-number),
the Airy pattern occupies width of about 2λ (order of μm) [Gagliardi&Karp,
p.43] .

Lens focuses field into the Airy spot containing same time varying envelope
variations as the received field.
Detector placed in the focal plane collect only the Airy pattern to see point
source and its envelope modulation.
Hence, focal plane detecting areas can be much smaller than the receiver
lens aperture.

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The off-angle incident plane wave generate position-shifted diffraction
pattern in the focal plane.
Two patterns as shown in the above figure will superimpose in the focal
plane [Gagliardi&Karp, p.44].
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Two pattern are irresolvable if the pattern of one is located with in the
Airy width of other.
The patterns have a width around 2 λ and are unresolved if they are
within λ of each other.
This translates to point source fields which are separated by angle less
than θdL given as 
 dL 
fc

The solid angle of irresolvable arriving angle is

2
 
 dL   
4  fc 

Under the condition fc ≈ d, where d is circular lens diameter, the above

equation can be written as

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 2
  2    
2
 dL      
4  d 2  4 A

where A is receiver aperture area. This is called diffraction limited FOV of

aperture optics and defines the angle in which all arriving plane wave
angles will superimpose their Airy pattern so as to be indistinguishable.
ΩdL defines the resolution capability of aperture optics at wavelength λ
and depends only on aperture area A.
Arrival angle separated by approximately λ/A1/2 produce orthogonal
field over A i.e.,

 
dL  
fc d
and
d2 4
A d  A A
It implies that 4 

dL 
A
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These equations show that diffraction limited angle (θdL) is the minimum
angle separation for orthogonal plane waves or vice-versa. Conversely,
arriving orthogonal plane wave produce resolvable diffraction patterns in
the focal plane.

Power Detection and Receiver Field of View

It can be shown mathematically that the power collected over the focal
plane from the focal plane field is identical to the power collected over
the receiver aperture area from the receiver field.
The focal-plane power detection is based on the fact that a focal-plane
detector encompasses the entire focused field no matter the direction
from which it arrives [Gagliardi&Karp, p.49].

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Receiver field of view (FOV) can be given as
d /2 d
 fv  2 d   d
 fc  fc
and
2
   dd 
A
 fv   fv2 
   d2
4 4  fc  fc
where Ad is detector area. Ωfv defines the range of receiver arrival angles
observed by the detecting surface. It determines how much of incoming
light field will actually detected and is referred as receiver FOV.
The minimal FOV that we can have is diffraction-limited angle (ΩdL) with
detecting surface of area πλ2. In general, detector areas are much larger
than πλ2 so that Ωfv >> ΩdL.
Number of received field modes,

mt 
 fv

A d


 4  Ad   4  A 
f c2
  2 .  2 
 dL 2 2
 
 4  A         f c 

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Under the assumption fc = d,

 4  A   4  A 
mt    2d .  2 
        f c 
 2
 4  Ad   4  4  
d
 2
   2 .  ,  A  d 
        d  
2
4 
 
Therefore,
 4  A 
mt    2d 
    

 Since Ad >> λ2, an optical receiver collects many field modes. Even with a
detector area as small as 1 cm2, optical receiver can have as many as 106-
1010 modes.
In contrast to this, radio frequency receiver will have approximately 1-10
modes.

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Background Radiation
Determination of background noise power requires an accurate model
for the source of this radiation.
Sources are divided into two basic types

• Occupy entire background and are

Extended
present in any receiver field of view
Background Noise
e.g., sky (outdoor) and reflecting
Source
walls (indoor)

• More intense and may or may not

Discrete or Point
be present in receiver field of view
Background Noise
e.g., Planet, Moon, Sun (Outdoor)
Source
and room light (indoor)

Extended background radiations are most often described by their

spectral radiance as discussed below.

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Spectral Radiance Function
Spectral Radiance Function, W(λ), is defined as power radiated at
wavelength λ per cycle of bandwidth into a solid angle per unit of source
area [Gagliardi&Karp, p.60].

From the above figure the source solid angle Ωs is given by As/Z2 where
As is the source area.
Background noise power collected at receiver in a wavelength band of
Δλ around wavelength λ is given by
W ( ) fv A if  fv   s 
Pb   
W ( ) s A if  s   fv 

It is evident that Pb doesn’t depend on the range Z and increases linearly

with Ωfv 14
For a localized point source, source radiance is defined as
H(λ) = W(λ) Ωs
In this case,
Pb = H(λ)(Δ λ) A if Ωs < Ωfv
It can be evaluated without specifying the source solid angle Ωs.
If we set
2
 fv   dL 
A
then background noise collected from an extended source is

Pbo = W(λ)(Δλ)A(λ2/A) = W(λ)(Δλ)λ2

Most background source are described by blackbody radiation model in
which radiance is given by
c2h  1 
W ( )  5  hc kT 0 
 e  1
where h is Planck’s constant, k the Boltzmann constant and To the
temperature in degree Kelvin.
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Now,
Pbo  W ( )  2 hc  c 2 
hf kT 0
e 1
 N 0 (f )

where
hf c
N0  and f  
(e hf kT 0
 1)  2

No plays role of one-sided noise power spectral density at the receiver
surface caused by black body background at temperature To in diffraction-
limited receiver.
When field of view (FOV) is not diffraction-limited then background noise is

Diffraction-limited power Pbo is often called power per spatial ‘mode’ and
ratio Ωfv/ΩdL is number of modes of optical receiver.
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