Charge-coupled devices: frame adding as an alternative to long integration times and cooling

Mark J. O'Malley; Eon O'Mongain

doi:10.1117/12.56091

1 March 1992 Charge-coupled devices: frame adding as an alternative to long integration times and cooling

Mark J. O'Malley, Eon O'Mongain

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 31, Issue 3, (March 1992). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.56091

Abstract

CCDs used for low light level applications require a long integration time and/or cooling to have acceptable SNR. Standard commercially available CCD cameras (e.g., for TV applications) are used with a relatively short integration time (≈1/60 s per field) and are operated at room temperature. Consequently, these cameras will have poor SNR if used for low light level applications. The addition of successive frames from a standard CCD camera for the improvement of the SNR is considered here. We show, using a simple model, that a range of signal levels (as low as a few millilux) exists for which frame addition is a viable alternative to long integration times and cooling.

Citation Download Citation

Mark J. O'Malley and Eon O'Mongain "Charge-coupled devices: frame adding as an alternative to long integration times and cooling," Optical Engineering 31(3), (1 March 1992). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.56091

Published: 1 March 1992

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