Low-light-level EMCCD color camera

Heim, Gerald B.; Burkepile, Jon; Frame, Wayne W.

doi:10.1117/12.667704

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Typically there are over 500 multiplication elements on a device, and gains of ×1000 can be achieved with voltages for Rφ2HV in the range 40-46 V relative to φDC voltages in the range 3-5 V. A previously small signal can therefore be amplified to a level where the read noise introduced by the output amplifier is no longer significant, lowering the effective read noise floor to sub-electron levels. Since its introduction the technology has found a wide range of applications, including use in the military, 8 biomedical imaging 9 and ground based astronomy. 10 The WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph shall be the first instrument to implement the technology for a large scale space mission.…”

Section: Em-ccd Technology and The Ccd201-20mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of radiation damage on photon counting with an EMCCD for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph

et al. 2015

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WFIRST-AFTA is a 2.4m class NASA observatory designed to address a wide range of science objectives using two complementary scientific payloads. The Wide Field Instrument (WFI) offers Hubble quality imaging over a 0.28 square degree field of view, and will gather NIR statistical data on exoplanets through gravitational microlensing. The second instrument is a high contrast coronagraph that will carry out the direct imaging and spectroscopic analysis of exoplanets, providing a means to probe the structure and composition of planetary systems.The coronagraph instrument is expected to operate in low photon flux for long integration times, meaning all noise sources must be kept to a minimum. In order to satisfy the low noise requirements, the Electron Multiplication (EM)-CCD has been baselined for both the imaging and spectrograph cameras. The EMCCD was selected in comparison with other candidates because of its low effective electronic read noise at sub-electron values with appropriate multiplication gain setting. The presence of other noise sources, however, such as thermal dark signal and Clock Induced Charge (CIC), need to be characterised and mitigated. In addition, operation within a space environment will subject the device to radiation damage that will degrade the Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) of the device throughout the mission lifetime.Here we present our latest results from pre-and post-irradiation testing of the e2v CCD201-20 BI EMCCD sensor, baselined for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph instrument. A description of the detector technology is presented, alongside considerations for operation within a space environment. The results from a room temperature irradiation are discussed in context with the nominal operating requirements of AFTA-C and future work which entails a cryogenic irradiation of the CCD201-20 is presented.

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Section: Em-ccd Technology and The Ccd201-20mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of radiation damage on photon counting with an EMCCD for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph

et al. 2015

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“…Color is sampled only sparsely, by placing copies of the standard 2 × 2 Bayer block (or something like it) on a relatively coarse grid. This sort of sparse color sampling has been previously considered in the context of recognition and military surveillance, where the goal is to improve luminance resolution at the expense of color fidelity [11]. In contrast, we show here that with an appropriate computational reconstruction process, high color fidelity need not be sacrificed with this arrangement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…An interesting exception to this trend is the pattern proposed by Heim et al [11] for visible-plus-infrared cameras used in recognition and military surveillance applications. Like us, their filter array samples color at only a sparse set of locations, allowing the remaining sensor elements to collect high-quality, un-aliased measurements of visible-plusinfrared luminance in low-light conditions.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking color cameras

Chakrabarti

Freeman

Zickler

2014

2014 IEEE International Conference on Computational Photography (ICCP)

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Digital color cameras make sub-sampled measurements of color at alternating pixel locations, and then "demosaick" these measurements to create full color images by up-sampling. This allows traditional cameras with restricted processing hardware to produce color images from a single shot, but it requires blocking a majority of the incident light and is prone to aliasing artifacts. In this paper, we introduce a computational approach to color photography, where the sampling pattern and reconstruction process are co-designed to enhance sharpness and photographic speed. The pattern is made predominantly panchromatic, thus avoiding excessive loss of light and aliasing of high spatial-frequency intensity variations. Color is sampled at a very sparse set of locations and then propagated throughout the image with guidance from the un-aliased luminance channel. Experimental results show that this approach often leads to significant reductions in noise and aliasing artifacts, especially in low-light conditions.

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“…Since its introduction the technology has found a wide range of applications, including use in the military [4], biomedical imaging [5] and astronomy [6]. Many studies have also been performed concerning their operation [7,26], radiation hardness [8] and applicability to future space instrumentation [9].…”

Section: A) B) C) D)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulations of charge transfer in Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Devices

Bush¹,

Stefanov²,

Hall³

et al. 2014

J. Inst.

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ABSTRACT:Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Devices (EMCCDs) are a variant of traditional CCD technology well suited to applications that demand high speed operation in low light conditions. On-chip signal amplification allows the sensor to effectively suppress the noise introduced by readout electronics, permitting sub-electron read noise at MHz pixel rates. The devices have been the subject of many detailed studies concerning their operation, however there has not been a study into the transfer and multiplication process within the EMCCD gain register. Such an investigation has the potential to explain certain observed performance characteristics, as well as inform further optimisations to their operation. In this study, the results from simulation of charge transfer within an EMCCD gain register element are discussed with a specific focus on the implications for serial charge transfer efficiency (CTE). The effects of operating voltage and readout speed are explored in context with typical operating conditions. It is shown that during transfer, a small portion of signal charge may become trapped at the semiconductor-insulator interface that could act to degrade the serial CTE in certain operating conditions.

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Low-light-level EMCCD color camera

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

The impact of radiation damage on photon counting with an EMCCD for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph

The impact of radiation damage on photon counting with an EMCCD for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph

Rethinking color cameras

Simulations of charge transfer in Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Devices

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