Silicon photodiode as a detector in the rocket-borne photometry of the near infrared airglow.

The application of a silicon P-I-N photodiode to the dc measurement of low levels of near ir radiation is described. It is shown that the threshold of signal detection is set by the current amplifier voltage noise, the effect of which at the output is determined by the value of source resistance of the photodiode. The photodiode was used as the detector in a compact interference filter photometer designed for rocket-borne studies of the airglow. Flight results have proved the instrument's capability to provide measurements sufficiently precise to yield an accurate height profile of the (0-0) atmospheric band of O(2) night airglow at lambda762 nm.