Camera Characteristics

The camera detector characteristics given below are mainly based on measurements certified by the manufacturers at delivery. Unless otherwise indicated we have not verified these numbers in detail.

camsci1

camsci1

Manufacturer:	Princeton Instruments
Model	ProEM HS: 1024BX3
Serial Number:	09434117
Format	1024 x 1024
Bit Depth	16
Well Depth	78,000 electrons
Dark Current	0.004 e/pix/sec at -55 C
CIC	0.02 e-/pix/frame at 1000x EM gain

camsci1 Performance

Amplifier	Speed	RON	Gain	[e-/count]
		[e-]	High	Med	Low
CCD	100 kHz	3.78	0.87	1.60	3.25
CCD	1 MHz	5.41	0.93	1.64	3.40
EMCCD	5 MHz	26.68	2.32	4.62	8.54
EMCCD	10 MHz	36.58	2.20	3.96	7.95
EMCCD	20 MHz	82.87	1.97
EMCCD	30 MHz	136.7	2.65

Warning

The 16-bit readout saturates at 65535 counts, but saturation of the CCD wells can occur as low as 40000 counts. Examine the image for charge bleed and err on the side of caution.

Note

For the purposes of reading the above table, the cameras are always operated in “high gain” mode. For EMCCD modes, the value in the table is divided by a selectable electron-multiplying gain factor of 1–1000 (e.g. when emgain is 10 then one electron in a pixel becomes ten, then those ten electrons are converted into counts using the gain factor from the table). As the detectors age, there is an additional factor between zero and one representing the degradation of the electron-multiplying circuitry.

Detailed gain characterization of the instrument requires further data collection.

camsci2

camsci2

Manufacturer:	Princeton Instruments
Model	ProEM HS: 1024BX3
Serial Number:	09434417
Format	1024 x 1024
Bit Depth	16
Well Depth	75,000 electrons
Dark Current	0.0064 e/pix/sec at -55 C
CIC	0.02 e-/pix/frame at 1000x EM gain

camsci2 Performance

Amplifier	Speed	RON	Gain	[e-/count]
		[e-]	High	Med	Low
CCD	100 kHz	3.77	0.86	1.61	3.31
CCD	1 MHz	5.58	0.89	1.58	3.19
EMCCD	5 MHz	23.23	2.01	4.08	7.75
EMCCD	10 MHz	34.50	2.05	3.42	7.11
EMCCD	20 MHz	79.22	1.75
EMCCD	30 MHz	122.2	2.21

Warning

The 16-bit readout saturates at 65535 counts, but saturation of the CCD wells can occur as low as 40000 counts. Examine the image for charge bleed and err on the side of caution.

Note

For the purposes of reading the above table, the cameras are always operated in “high gain” mode. For EMCCD modes, the value in the table is divided by a selectable electron-multiplying gain factor of 1–1000 (e.g. when emgain is 10 then one electron in a pixel becomes ten, then those ten electrons are converted into counts using the gain factor from the table). As the detectors age, there is an additional factor between zero and one representing the degradation of the electron-multiplying circuitry.

Detailed gain characterization of the instrument requires further data collection.

camlowfs

camlowfs

Manufacturer:	Andor
Model	iXon Ultra 897
Serial Number:	X-10473
Format	512 x 512
Bit Depth	16
Well Depth	186,000 electrons
Dark Current	0.00015 e/pix/sec at -98.72 C
CIC	0.00119 events/pixel

camlowfs Performance

Amplifier	Speed	RON	[e-]		Gain	[e-/count]
		High	Med	Low	High	Med	Low
CCD	0.08 MHz	3.11	3.39	3.63	1.40	2.97	3.90
CCD	1 MHz	5.40	6.30	6.92	1.38	2.97	3.89
CCD	3 MHz	9.77	11.7	13.3	1.41	3.01	3.88
EMCCD	1 MHz	14.8	16.9	24.0	4.20	8.05	17.0
EMCCD	5 MHz	36.2	43.4	66.6	4.20	7.91	17.0
EMCCD	10 MHz	54.3	63.3	98.8	4.97	7.85	14.7
EMCCD	17 MHz	87.2	148	174	5.47	10.1	18.6