Optimization of the light intensity for Photodetectors calibration

Abstract

In this article we present an evaluation of the uncertainty in the average number of photoelectrons, which is important for the calibration of photodetectors. We show that the statistical uncertainty depends on light intensity, and on the method of evaluation. For some cases there is optimal light intensity where the accuracy reaches its optimal value with fixed statistics. A method of photoelectron evaluation based on the extraction of pedestal's (zero) probability gives the best accuracy at approximately 1.6 photoelectrons for a noiseless photodetector and shifts out to higher values with the presence of noise. In the general case, estimation of the average number of photoelectrons is biased and might need special consideration.