Analysis of noise in energy-dispersive spectrometers using time-domain methods

This paper presents an integrated time domain approach to the optimization of the signal-to-noise ratio in all spectrometer systems that contain a detector that converts incoming quanta of radiation into electrical pulse signals that are amplified and shaped by an electronic pulse shaper. It allows analysis of normal passive pulse shapers as well as time-variant systems where switching of shaping elements occurs in synchronism with the signal. It also deals comfortably with microcalorimeters (sometimes referred to as bolometers), where noise-determining elements, such as the temperature-sensing elementʹs resistance and temperature, change with time in the presence of a signal. As part of the purely time-domain approach, a new method of calculating the Johnson noise in resistors using only the statistics of electron motion is presented. The result is a time-domain analog of the Nyquist formula.