SPC3 Series
SPC3 is based on a 2-D imaging array of 64 x 32 smart pixels, comprising single-photon avalanche diode detector, analogue front-end and digital processing electronics. The SPC3 provides single-photon sensitivity, high electronic noise immunity, and fast readout speed up to 96’000 frames per second with negligible inter-frame dead time. A common gate input enables counting only during specific time-windows.
Full digital acquisition of light PDE up to 50% @ 400nm, improved NUV response
Ultra short time gating < 2ns @ 20ps steps
High frame rate up to 96 kfps
Low noise Typical noise of 150cps per pixel, no readout noise.
NOW WITH LABVIEW™ Block-set
MODULE FEATURES
• 2048 detectors - full parallel operation
• Three indipendent counters per pixel, with updown mode for lock-in acquisition
• USB 3.0 interface with DLLs provided (compatible with C, C++, C#, Matlab etc.)
• Optical port with interchangable adapter C-mount adapter available
• Low power consumption • Robust and compact
• Standard high speed “in-camera” FLIM-m
BIOMEDICAL APPLICATION
• Confocal Microscopy
• Single Molecule Spectroscopy
• Ultra-Sensitive Fluorescence
• Time-correlated single photon counting
• Single Molecule DetectionINDUSTRIAL APPLICATION
• Particle Sizing
• Optical Testing of integrated circuits
• Metrology by Time of Flight measurementsASTRONOMY APPLICATION
• Optical Range Finding
• LIDAR & LADAR
• Astronomy Observations & Adaptive
Overview
SPC3 is based on a 2-D imaging array of 64 x 32 (2048) smart pixels. Each pixel comprises a singlephoton avalanche diode detector, an analogue front-end and a digital processing electronics. This architecture allows for single-photon sensitivity, high electronic noise immunity, and fast readout speed. The imager can be operated at a maximum frame rate of about 96’000 frames per second with negligible inter-frame dead time. The camera differs from conventional Charge-Coupled Devices or CMOS sensors because it performs a “fully digital” acquisition of the light signal. Each pixel effectively counts the number of photons which are detected by the sensor during the acquisition time.
At the maximum frame-rate photon-counting dynamics is 8-bit, but camera processing electronics allows noiseless frame-binning, thus providing higher dynamics at lower frame-rates. It features also high photon-detection efficiency in the visible and NUV spectral region, very low dark-counting rates, even at room temperature and very low detector dead-time.
Each pixel includes three independent gatable counters, two of them with up-down capability for lockin acquisition. Such gating capability enables the counting during specific time-windows only, which means that the SPC3 can also be used for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM) or for indirect ranging measurements (iTOF). The high-speed gated-mode FLIM acquisition is fully automated by the camera and can be enabled and configured by user via a simple interface. Application Notes on how to use the camera for ranging measurements will be available on request.
The SPC3 is easily integrated into common optical setups thanks to the C-mount optical port and a high-speed USB 3.0 computer interface. Cross-platform DLLs/shared libraries for easy integration in most application (C, C++, C#, Objective-C, Matlab, Labview, etc.) are provided.
Hardware connections
• USB High-speed USB 3.0 connector: for data download and camera configuration.
• Multi-coax connector (adapter to SMAs provided)
- SYNC OUT: Electric 3.3V CMOS (LVCMOS) pulses are generated at this output to synchronize the camera with any external device. Drives 50Ω terminated transmission lines.
-TRIG IN: Requires > 40ns pulse to start the camera acquisition using an external device, e.g. shutter, photo detector. The first frame starts between 20ns and 40 ns after the TRIG IN pulse. 50Ω DC input impedance.
-3 GATE IN: Active-low inputs with 50Ω DC impedance. When GATE IN inputs are OFF, the incoming photons are not counted. The minimum pulse duration is below 5 ns. All the three GATE IN inputs are totally independent. 3.3 V CMOS inputs but 5V tolerant.
-DIRECTION: Input to control direction of up-down counters. 50Ω DC input impedance. Accepts 3.3V CMOS logic levels (5V tolerant)
• +12Vdc: Jack for connecting the provided +12V power supply.
System requirements
• High-speed USB 3.0 interface (USB 2.0 is supported, but will reduce performance).
• Host computer (minimum requirements)
- 2 GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM
- SSD recommended for full speed continuous acquisition
• Supported operating systems
- VisualSPC3
- Microsoft Windows 7, 8, 10, 32 or 64 bit versions
- SDK and ImageJ Plugin
- Microsoft Windows 7, 8, 10, 32 or 64 bit versions
- Linux Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, CentOs 6.5, 6.6, 6.7 or compatible distributions, 32 or 64 bit versions. Different distributions should work, but were not tested.
- Mac OS X 10.8 and above
Specifications
Specifications @ 25°C and 5V overvoltage
Min
Typ
Max
Units
Photon Detection Efficiency (PDE)
Average on entire array @ 320 nm
@ 400 nm
@ 650 nm
@ 800 nm
25
50
14
4
%
Dark-counting rate (DCR)
50th percentile1 of entire array
95th percentile2 of entire array
150
300
cps
Optical crosstalk
0.01
%
Afterpulsing probability (at 50ns SPAD dead-time)
1
%
SPAD dead-time (user adjustable) 3
50
125
ns
Active area diameter of each SPAD
30
mm
SPAD pitch
150
mm
Defective pixels per array (i.e. with DCR > 1Mc/s)
2
5
Frame-rate
96
kframe/s
Interframe dead-time
10
ns
Time-Gated FLIM mode 4
Gate Width
Gate Steps
Step Size
Measurement Time range
Laser Sync Out
1.5
800
20
16
50
20
ns
ps
ns
MHz
Photon Counting Dynamics
@ 96 kframe/s
@ 6 kframe/s
@ 375 frame/s
Higher frame-rates are possible by reducing the number of acquired pixels.
8
12
16
bit
Supply Voltage
+12Vdc
USB connector
All coaxial Inputs
SYNC OUT output
USB 3.0 compliant
3.3V CMOS ; 5V-tolerant
3.3V CMOS
Objective mounting
Flange for interchangeable adapter (Standard C-mount adapter available)
Dimensions
40 mm (H) x 70 mm (W) x 93 mm (L) M6 threading for fixing
Weight
360g (camera only) + 140g (USB and Coax)
Mechanical drawing
Ordering Information
Products can be ordered directly from Micro Photon Devices or its representatives. For a complete list of representatives, visit our website at www.micro-photon-devices.com. Custom designed products are available upon request.