Method and apparatus for precise measurement of long-term stability of photodetectors

摘要

A method and apparatus is disclosed for the measurement of the long-term stability of photodetectors. A fiber optic star coupler divides optical flux from a source of light into highly stable proportioned light outputs. Each of the photodetectors to be tested is connected to be irradiated by one of the star coupler light outputs. Each of at least one reference photodetectors having known stabilities is connected to one of the remaining outputs of the star coupler. Resulting outputs of the photodetectors to be tested are compared against the resulting output from the reference photodetector.