Andor Technology iXon3 Series User Manual

Page 60
iXon 3
Features & Functionality
To successfully photon count with EMCCDs, there has to be a signicantly higher probability of seeing a ‘photon spike’
thanseeingadarkcurrent/CIC‘noisespike’.Thelowerthecontributionofthis‘spurious’noisesourcetoasingle
exposure within the accumulated series, the lower the detection limit of photon counting and the cleaner the overall
image will be, as demonstrated in Figure 43 below:
Figure 42: ‘Photon Counting’ vs. ‘Standard EM-on’ Imaging for very weak signals. Images A, B and C were recorded under identical illumination
conditions, identical exposure times and each with EM Gain set at x1000. The benet of photon counting under conditions of low clock induced
charge (CIC) is evident. Images D and E are derived from a larger number of accumulated images, to yield a greater measurable signal to noise
ratio. An identically positioned Region of Interest on each image was used to determine S/N of 3.86 and 6.02 for standard and photon counted
images respectively. This factor improvement is in accord with the theory of Photon Counting circumventing the inuence of multiplicative noise
(noise factor) in EMCCD signals.

Andor Technology iXon3 Series Specifications

General

Brand	Andor Technology
Model	iXon3 Series
Category	Digital Camera
Language	English