One of the most important advantages of Fourier-transform spectroscopy was shown by P. B. Fellgett, an early advocate of the method. The Fellgett advantage, also known as the multiplex principle, states that when obtaining a spectrum when measurement noise is dominated by detector noise (which is independent of the power of radiation incident on the detector), a multiplex spectrometer such as a Fourier-transform spectrometer will produce a relative improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, compared to an equivalent scanning monochromator, of the order of the square root of m, where m is the number of sample points comprising the spectrum. However, if the detector is shot-noise dominated, the noise will be proportional to the square root of the power, thus for a broad boxcar spectrum (continuous broadband source), the noise is proportional to the square root of m, thus precisely offset the Fellgetts advantage.  For line emission sources the situation is even worse and there is a distinct `multiplex disadvantage as the shot noise from a strong emission component will overwhelm the fainter components of the spectrum. Shot noise is the main reason Fourier-transform spectrometry was never popular for ultraviolet (UV) and visible spectra.