On the Detective Quantum Efficiency of Television Camera Tubes

The detective quantum efficiency of two RCA image orthicons (5820 and 6849) and one RCA vidicon (6326) is computed from unpublished signal, noise and resolution data generously supplied by the manufacturer. The concept of detective quantum efficiency used here is identical with the concept of quantum efficiency introduced by Rose in 1946, and is defined as the square of the ratio of the measured signal-to-noise ratio to the maximum possible signal-to-noise ratio under the same external conditions, where the maximum possible signal-to-noise ratio is set by the statistical fluctuations in the number of the photons in the background. The detective quantum efficiency Q is presented as a function of the wavelength of the photocathode radiation, of the irradiation of the cathode and of the line-number of the target. The maximum value of Q with respect to variation of the wavelength, irradiation and line-number is 2.65% for the 5820 and 4.35% for the 6849 image orthicons and only 0.084% for the 6326 vidicon.

Print ISSN

0361-4573

Published

1959-07

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J13806