For a photodetector, a figure of merit used to characterize performance, equal to the reciprocal of noise equivalent power (NEP), normalized to unit area and unit bandwidth. Specific detectivity, <math>D^*</math> (synonym D-Star), is given by <math>D^*=\frac{\sqrt{A \cdot \Delta f}}{NEP}</math>, where <math>A</math> is the area of the photosensitive region of the detector and <math>\Delta f</math> is the effective noise bandwidth. Its common units are <math>cm \cdot Hz^{1/2} / W</math>, also called the Jones in honour to R. Clark Jones who defined this magnitude. [1] [2] Given noise equivalent power can be expressed as a function of responsivity, noise spectral density (<math>A/Hz^{1/2}</math>) and noise bandwidth as <math>NEP=\frac{S_n\cdot\sqrt{\Delta f}}{\mathfrak{R}}</math>, it's common to see Specific detectivity expressed as <math>D^*=\frac{\mathfrak{R}\cdot\sqrt{A}}{S_n}</math>.
References and footnotes
This article contains material from the Federal Standard 1037C, which, as a work of the United States Government, is in the public domain.
