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Photon Detection as a Process of Information Gain.

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Summary

Photon detectors, acting as thermodynamic engines, convert potential information into realized information with efficiency limited by thermodynamics. This study quantizes information gain in photon detection, showing realized information is always less than potential information.

Keywords:
Landauer principledetection efficiencyfigure of merit (FOM)information gainphotonphoton detection

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Area of Science:

  • Thermodynamics
  • Information Theory
  • Photonics

Background:

  • Established equivalence between information and entropy.
  • Previous work showed particles carry potential information relative to a heat reservoir.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate information gain in photon detection.
  • To evaluate the signal-to-noise ratio for photo-ionization detectors.
  • To compare realized information gain with potential information carried by photons.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the information-entropy equivalence.
  • Analyzed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for photon detection.
  • Derived expressions for potential and realized information gain.

Main Results:

  • Quantified potential information (i_pot) carried by photons based on energy and temperature.
  • Quantified realized information (i_real) gained upon detection using SNR.
  • Demonstrated that i_real is always less than or equal to i_pot for all technical photon detectors.

Conclusions:

  • Photon detectors function as thermodynamic engines with incomplete information conversion efficiency.
  • The second law of thermodynamics and Landauer bounds limit information gain efficiency.
  • Potential information is an intrinsic property of photons, with realized information limited by detector performance.