A system and method providing for the detection of an input signal by distributing
the input signal into independent signal components that are independently amplified.
Detection of an input signal comprises generating from the input signal a plurality
of spatially separate elementary charge components, each having a respective known
number of elementary charges, the number of the plurality of spatially separate
elementary charge components being a known monotonic function of the magnitude
of said input signal; and independently amplifying each of the plurality of spatially
divided elementary charge components to provide a respective plurality of signal
charge packets, each signal charge packet having a second number of elementary
charges greater than the respective known number by a respective amplification factor.
