SPC2 Series
SPC2 is based on a 2-D imaging array of 32 x 32 smart pixels, comprising single-photon avalanche diode detector, analog front-end and digital processing electronics. The SPC2 provides single-photon sensitivity, high electronic noise immunity, and fast readout speed up to 49’000 frames per second with negligible interframe dead time. A common gate input enables counting only during specific time-windows.
Full digital acquisition of light PDE up to 38% @ 400nm
Ultra short time gating < 2ns @ 200ps steps
High frame rate up to 49 kfps
No read-out noise Compared to CMOS, sCMOS, CCD & EMCCD cameras
MODULE FEATURES
• 1024 detectors - full parallel operation
• USB 2.0 interface with DLLs provided (compatible with C, C++, C#, Matlab etc.)
• Low power consumption
• Robust and compact • C-mount optical port
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 & AdaptiveOverview
SPC2 is based on a 2-D imaging array of 32 x 32 (1024) smart pixels. Each pixel comprises a singlephoton avalanche diode detector, an analog 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 49’000 frames per second with negligible interframe 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 high photon-detection efficiency in the visible spectral region, and low dark-counting rates, even at room temperature.
A common gate input built into the camera enables counting only during specific time-windows, which means that the SPC2 can also be used for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging or for indirect ranging measurements (iTOF). Specific Application Notes on these two applications are available on request.
The SPC2 is easily integrated into common optical setups thanks to the C-mount optical port and a high-speed USB 2.0 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 2.0 connector: for data download and camera configuration.
• SYNC OUT: SMA output. Electric LVCMOS pulses are generated at this output to synchronize the camera with any external device.
• GATE IN: Active-low input. When GATE IN is OFF, the incoming photons are not counted. The minimum pulse duration is below 5 ns.
• TRIG IN: SMA input. Requires > 40ns pulse to start the camera acquisition using an external device, e.g. shutter, photo detector. The first frame starts within 40 ns after the TRIG IN pulse.
• +5Vdc: Jack for connecting the provided +5V power supply.
System requirements
• High-speed USB 2.0 interface
• Host computer (minimum requirements)
- 300 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM
• Supported operating systems
- VisualSPC2
- Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 32 or 64 bit versions o SDK and ImageJ Plugin
- Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 32 or 64 bit versions
- Linux Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Fedora Core 15 or compatible distributions, 32 or 64 bit versions. Different distributions should work, but were not tested.
- Mac OS X 10.7.5 and above
Specifications
Specifications @ 25°C and 5V overvoltage
Min
Typ
Max
Units
Photon Detection Efficiency (PDE)
Average on entire array @ 400 nm
@ 550 nm
@ 650 nm
Variance on entire array @ 400 nm
@ 550 nm
@ 650 nm
38
27
17
1
1
1.1
%
Dark-counting rate (DCR)
Second quartile1 of entire array
Third quartile2 of entire array
4000
25000
cps
Optical crosstalk
0.01
%
Afterpulsing probability (at typical SPAD dead-time)
5
%
SPAD dead-time (user adjustable)
200
600
ns
Active area diameter of each SPAD
20
mm
SPAD pitch
100
mm
Defective pixels per array (i.e. with DCR>1Mcps)
2
5
Frame-rate
49
kframe/s
Interframe dead-time
20
ns
Photon Counting Dynamics
@ 49 kframe/s
@ 3 kframe/s
@ 191 frame/s
Higher frame-rates are possible by reducing the number of acquired pixels.
8
12
16
bit
Supply Voltage
+5Vdc
USB connector
USB 2.0 compliant
GATE-IN input (low level gates detector on)
LVCMOS 5V-tolerant
TRIGGER IN input
LVCMOS 5V-tolerant
SYNC OUT output
LVCMOS
Objective mounting
Standard C-mount (1” 1-32 UN 2A thread)
Dimensions
60 mm (H) x 50 mm (W) x 82 mm (L) M2.5 threading for fixing
1. Second quartile means 50% of devices satisfying the specified value
2. Third quartile means 75% of devices satisfying the specified value
Mechanical drawing
Ordering Information
$PC - 2D - 32x32
Products can be ordered directly from Micro Photon Devices or its representatives. Custom designed products are available upon request.