title: Signal-to-noise performance analysis of streak tube imaging lidar systems. II. Theoretical analysis and discussion.
abstract: In the preceding paper (referred to here as paper I), we presented a general signal-to-noise performance analysis of a streak tube imaging lidar (STIL) system within the framework of linear cascaded systems theory. A cascaded model is proposed for characterizing the signal-to-noise performance of a STIL system with an internal or external intensified streak tube receiver. The STIL system can be decomposed into a series of cascaded imaging chains whose signal and noise transfer properties are described by the general (or the spatial-frequency dependent) noise factors (NFs). Equations for the general NFs of the cascaded chains (or the main components) in the STIL system are derived. This work investigates the signal-to-noise performance of an external intensified STIL system. The implementation of the cascaded model for predicting and evaluating the signal-to-noise performance of the external intensified STIL system is described. Some factors that limit the signal-to-noise performance of the external intensified STIL system are analyzed and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Optical Metrology Laboratory, Xi'an Institute of Applied Optics, Xi'an, China. runnymede@sohu.com
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xiaopeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hongru
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authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Bing
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authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chao
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authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Bin
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authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Liang
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authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Lipeng
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authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhanli
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authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Gaoping
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authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Baoning
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authors.lastname: Wu