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Modular iCCD camera system
Introduction
This flexible iCCD camera can easily be adapted to the user's needs and requirements. The modules are separated and recombined fast and easily. The available modules are
- a gateable image intensifier unit
- a slim proximity-focus Gen I booster unit
- the actual camera
All 3 components are prepared for easy mounting and disassembly.
Modules
Gateable image intensifier
The core part of this unit is the 25 mm gateable Gen II image intensifier. It can be used as an electro-optical shutter working on the nanosecond timescale. The specially designed electronics allow for control by TTL trigger signal, but it also features an integrated pulse generator and delay generator. With this electronics, the pulse width and the delay can be defined with a precision of 1 ns.
Booster module
When applying extremely short gating times, the camera's CCD sensor might not get enough light to generate clear images. With the booster unit the output of the gateable intensifier is amplified. The booster intensifier consists of a proximity-focus 25 mm Gen I intensifier.
Camera module
The actual camera features a 1.4 MPix CCD sensor running with up to 16 fps @ full resolution (30 fps on request). The optical interface between the camera and the intensifier is either fiberoptic or lens coupling.
Applications
Multianode (MA) detectors can be read out in two different ways, "pixel mode" (PM) and "center-of-gravity" mode (CGM).
The PM is straightforward; it works like an array of MCP-PMTs where the current intensity is directly measured on each anode pad.
In CGM, the electron cloud is intenionally spread widely so that it spreads over many electrode pads. The charge amount on each pad is measured and the event's position is attributed to the center of gravity of the entire cloud.
Delay line (DL) detectors use the propagation time of the image charge from the point of impact to the ends of the wire lines to determine the impact position. The timing information is given be the electron avalanche passing through the MCP stack.
Applications
Typical applications:
- Observation of low-light processes that cannot be illuminated externally (e.g. combustion, fluorescence)
- Freezing of ultrafast processes (e.g. explosions, plasmas) or synchronization of laser-excited processes (exposure time down to 3 ns with a maximum repetition rate of 10 kHz)
- Detection of UV sources and weak UV images down to the photon level
- Low-light imaging in the spectral range from UV (200nm) to visible (780nm), even to NIR (850nm) with customised version
Further customization
Yes, image intensifier and camera modules can be manufactured based on the broad product range of ProxiVision's image intensifier and many third-party camera types. Special image intensifiers cover certain spectral ranges, e.g. down to 120 nm or up to 850 nm. Cameras with different resolution or frame rate are available.