Effect of intense background radiation on the sensitivity of a laser receiver with an iodine active quantum filter

The effect of background light on the sensitivity of a laser receiver with an iodine active quantum filter (λ = 1.315 μm) was theoretically and experimentally investigated. Upon the reception of a 40-ns pulsed signal against the background of 2.5-fold attenuated radiation of a pulsed light source with a brightness temperature of 4 × 10⁴ K, the sensitivity of this receiver for a signal-to-noise ratio of three and a diffraction-limited acceptance angle was experimentally shown to be equal to 20 photons, which exceeds the quantum limit by about a factor of two. This is consistent with the results of theoretical treatment and suggests that upon the detection of optical signals against the background of the solar disk, the sensitivity of this receiver should decrease by only 12%. This receiver was compared with a receiver employing a photomultiplier of the visible range. Upon the reception of optical signals with the same parameters against the background of the solar disk and an interference filter with a transmission band width of 5 nm, the sensitivity of a receiver equipped with an FEU-115 photomultiplier was shown to be equal to about 1400 photons for a signal-to-noise ratio of three.