The effect of channel correlation on the accuracy of photon counting digital autocorrelators (photon counting spectroscopy)
Bahaa E. A. Saleh, M F Cardoso · Journal of Physics A Mathematical Nuclear and General · 1973
The estimation of spectral parameters of optical fields by digital autocorrelation of photon counting fluctuations is investigated, taking into account the correlations that exist between readings of the autocorrelator channels. A general expression for the covariance of the normalized intensity autocorrelation estimators is derived for a gaussian field with general lineshape. Two estimation schemes are outlined, the maximum likelihood and the least-squares. Dependence of the estimation accuracy on the channel correlations and the system parameters is discussed.