Is it possible electronically to amplify an expected signal with a S/N close to 1, or 1? If yes, how? I already tried to use an Lock-In-Amplifier, but that was not useful after the noise itself is also chopped. Are there other possibilities?
Clarification: I have a photo multiplier tube which detects reflected light (shape is depending on sample which reflects light). The noise is the dark current. If I reduce the light on the sample, the dark current goes down, but so does the signal. If I reduce the amount of reflected light by slits, both signals are also going down. The dark current is random, and therefore not predictable.
Concerning the signal itself: I do not know where I can expect the signal, and I do not know the shape of the signal.
Electronic – Amplify signal with extremely low S/N-ratio
amplifier
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Best Answer
Of course you can amplify the signal but in doing so you will also amplify the noise. I'm guessing that is not what you want.
Fundamentally if you want to measure a signal of similar magnitude to the noise you have to know something about the signal. The more you know about the signal the more you can design a system to measure it while reducing the impact of the noise.
If you want more help you are going to have to give us more information about your signal.