Chapter thirty-seven - Properties of Low-light-level Slow-scan Detectors

Abstract

This chapter discusses the properties of low-light-level slow-scan detectors. Electronic image acquisition has undergone phenomenal advances over the past 20 years. A major imaging technology innovation of the past few years is the introduction of a detector called the “charge-coupled device” (CCD), which replaces bulky, less sensitive scanning camera tubes. This chapter discusses the theory of CCD imagers, slow-scan CCD camera implementations, and the utility of CCDs in light microscopy. The slow-scan CCD camera is a powerful tool that permits light microscopy to achieve new levels of excellence. The large dynamic range, superb linearity, and photometric integrity of the data produced by slow-scan CCD cameras give the imaging scientist the ability to make measurements. While this technology opens up new opportunities for discovery, video cameras and image intensifiers are still needed to provide total imaging capability. No one type of camera can do everything. Therefore, a user must decide where the attributes of a slow-scan CCD camera are best utilized. Slow-scan CCD cameras have other equally exciting life sciences applications—namely, electrophoresis, chromatography, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and radiology.