Noise in amplifiers

In practically every type of research program in the physical sciences as well as in sophisticated engineering analyses, very small electrical signals must be measured and, in general, the limit of attainable precision and detectability is set by noise. This is true for the physicist and chemist performing nuclear magnetic resonance or spectroscopy experiments, for medical and biological researchers interested in evoked potentials, for geologists measuring small remanent magnetic fields in rock samples, for the metallurgist making Fermi surface measurements, and for the engineer performing vibration analysis and sensitive bridge measurements. These are only a few examples of applications in which noise plays a critical role in limiting measurement precision and signal detectability. This article discusses some of the inherent problems and describes techniques for improving signal-to-noise ratio.