NOISE EQUIVALENT POWER (NEP)

At a given data-signaling rate or modulation frequency , operating wavelength , and effective noise bandwidth , the radiant power that produces a signal-to-noise ratio of unity at the output of a given optical detector . ( 188 ) Note 1: Some manufacturers and authors define NEP as the minimum detectable power per square root bandwidth. When defined this way, NEP has the units of watts per ( hertz ) 1/2 . Therefore, the term is a misnomer, because the units of power are watts. Note 2: Some manufacturers define NEP as the radiant power that produces a signal-to-dark-current noise ratio of unity. The NEP measurement is valid only if the dark-current noise dominates the noise level .