Abstract
Low-light camera is an indispensable component in various fluorescence microscopy techniques. However, choosing an appropriate low-light camera for a specific technique (for example, single molecule imaging) is always time-consuming and sometimes confusing, especially after the commercialization of a new type of camera called sCMOS camera, which is now receiving heavy demands and high praise from both academic and industrial users. In this tutorial, we try to provide a guide on how to fully access the performance of low-light cameras using a well-developed method called photon transfer curve (PTC). We first present a brief explanation on the key parameters for characterizing low-light cameras, then explain the experimental procedures on how to measure PTC. We also show the application of the PTC method in experimentally quantifying the performance of two representative low-light cameras. Finally, we extend the PTC method to provide offset map, read noise map, and gain map of individual pixels inside a camera.
Highlights
A brief history to the development of low-light camerasLow-light detection is a hot topic in contemporary research community. Di®erent from conventional detectors, low-light camera is a special kind of lowlight detector which is designed to image weak signal comparable to the camera's electronic noise (called camera noise).[1]
electron multiplier CCD (EMCCD) employs a special component called electron multiplication (EM) register, which is added between the readout register and the output amplier in a frame-transfer cooled charge-coupled device (CCCD), to amplify the signal
The temporal read noise of individual pixels is consistent for a CCD camera, but varies for an scientic complementary metal oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) camera
Summary
Low-light detection is a hot topic in contemporary research community. Di®erent from conventional detectors, low-light camera is a special kind of lowlight detector which is designed to image weak signal comparable to the camera's electronic noise (called camera noise).[1]. EMCCD employs a special component called electron multiplication (EM) register, which is added between the readout register and the output amplier in a frame-transfer CCCD, to amplify the signal. This signal multiplication e®ectively reduces read noise to undetectable levels, but introduces an additional noise factors (called excess noise) which halves the e®ective quantum e±ciency (QE).[9]. SCMOS o®ers low noise, high speed, and wide pixel arrays simultaneously, and o®ers great potentials for low-light detection.[12] This new type of low-light camera has attracted great attention ever since its announcement. The capabilities of sCMOS in various applications, including super-resolution localization microscopy,[13,14,15] have been tested and reported in the past several years
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