Design of a novel high-performance ultrafast optical framing camera

Abstract

The analysis of fast physical phenomena is a relevant tool in several fields including atomic physics and photochemistry. In turn, to record phenomena occurring on an ultra-short time scale, one needs an imaging system that can accurately capture the event. In this paper, we propose a novel ultrafast optical framing camera that achieves a spatial resolution up to 36.6 LP/mm while keeping a high temporal resolution of 3.25 ns using a digital delay generator. Our technique involves the splitting of light into four beams and their imaging on four ICCD cameras. In addition, the data transfer system is designed to combine data-streams from multiple digital ports into a single output, thus providing a compact user interface. The characteristic parameters influencing the temporal resolution of the image intensifier has been analyzed, and the framing camera has been experimentally assessed. Our results show that a temporal resolution of 3.25 ns and a spatial resolution of 36.6 LP/mm can be obtained. We foresee the use of our apparatus for inertial confined fusion.