Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image Sensor
Electron-bombarded pixel image sensors, where a single photoelectron is accelerated directly into a CCD or CMOS sensor, allow wide-field imaging at extremely low light levels as they are sensitive enough to detect single photons. This technology allows the detection of up to hundreds or thousands of...
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doaj-c9a0cec8833d4eb997da775d3b49bc4a2020-11-24T21:49:58ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202016-04-0116561710.3390/s16050617s16050617Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image SensorLiisa M. Hirvonen0Klaus Suhling1Department of Physics, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UKDepartment of Physics, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UKElectron-bombarded pixel image sensors, where a single photoelectron is accelerated directly into a CCD or CMOS sensor, allow wide-field imaging at extremely low light levels as they are sensitive enough to detect single photons. This technology allows the detection of up to hundreds or thousands of photon events per frame, depending on the sensor size, and photon event centroiding can be employed to recover resolution lost in the detection process. Unlike photon events from electron-multiplying sensors, the photon events from electron-bombarded sensors have a narrow, acceleration-voltage-dependent pulse height distribution. Thus a gain voltage sweep during exposure in an electron-bombarded sensor could allow photon arrival time determination from the pulse height with sub-frame exposure time resolution. We give a brief overview of our work with electron-bombarded pixel image sensor technology and recent developments in this field for single photon counting imaging, and examples of some applications.http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/5/617photon countingelectron-bombarded sensorsingle photon detectionlow light level imagingEBCCDEBCMOS |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Liisa M. Hirvonen Klaus Suhling |
spellingShingle |
Liisa M. Hirvonen Klaus Suhling Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image Sensor Sensors photon counting electron-bombarded sensor single photon detection low light level imaging EBCCD EBCMOS |
author_facet |
Liisa M. Hirvonen Klaus Suhling |
author_sort |
Liisa M. Hirvonen |
title |
Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image Sensor |
title_short |
Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image Sensor |
title_full |
Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image Sensor |
title_fullStr |
Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image Sensor |
title_full_unstemmed |
Photon Counting Imaging with an Electron-Bombarded Pixel Image Sensor |
title_sort |
photon counting imaging with an electron-bombarded pixel image sensor |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sensors |
issn |
1424-8220 |
publishDate |
2016-04-01 |
description |
Electron-bombarded pixel image sensors, where a single photoelectron is accelerated directly into a CCD or CMOS sensor, allow wide-field imaging at extremely low light levels as they are sensitive enough to detect single photons. This technology allows the detection of up to hundreds or thousands of photon events per frame, depending on the sensor size, and photon event centroiding can be employed to recover resolution lost in the detection process. Unlike photon events from electron-multiplying sensors, the photon events from electron-bombarded sensors have a narrow, acceleration-voltage-dependent pulse height distribution. Thus a gain voltage sweep during exposure in an electron-bombarded sensor could allow photon arrival time determination from the pulse height with sub-frame exposure time resolution. We give a brief overview of our work with electron-bombarded pixel image sensor technology and recent developments in this field for single photon counting imaging, and examples of some applications. |
topic |
photon counting electron-bombarded sensor single photon detection low light level imaging EBCCD EBCMOS |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/5/617 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT liisamhirvonen photoncountingimagingwithanelectronbombardedpixelimagesensor AT klaussuhling photoncountingimagingwithanelectronbombardedpixelimagesensor |
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