Analysis of shot noise in the detection of ultrashort optical pulse trains

TL;DR

This paper develops a frequency domain model for shot noise in ultrashort optical pulse train detection, revealing how spectral correlations influenced by pulse width affect noise limits and timing jitter measurement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel time-varying frequency domain model that explicitly includes photodetector response and spectral correlations in shot noise analysis.

Findings

Spectral correlations depend on pulse width.

Spectral correlations cause large amplitude-phase noise imbalance.

Accounting for correlations aligns shot noise with quantum limits.

Abstract

We present a frequency domain model of shot noise in the photodetection of ultrashort optical pulse trains using a time-varying analysis. Shot noise-limited photocurrent power spectral densities, signal-to-noise expressions, and shot noise spectral correlations are derived that explicitly include the finite response of the photodetector. It is shown that the strength of the spectral correlations in the shot noise depends on the optical pulse width, and that these correlations can create orders-of-magnitude imbalance between the shot noise-limited amplitude and phase noise of photonically generated microwave carriers. It is also shown that only by accounting for spectral correlations can shot noise be equated with the fundamental quantum limit in the detection of optical pulse-to-pulse timing jitter.