Andor Technology Zyla sCMOS 4.2 PLUS - 2.7.4.1 Live Mode; 2.7.5 Fast Exposure Switch; 2.7.7 LightScan PLUS; 2.7.7.1 Multiple Readout Directions

version 2.0 rev 18 Feb 2021
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2.7.4.1 Live Mode
Live Mode refers to a version of Run Till Abort in which each user frame will be the latest frame output by the
sensor and will have the minimum amount of latency through the camera as possible.
LivemoderequirestheuseofSWTrigger.Inordertoensurethatframesarebueredintheon-cameramemory
for the shortest possible time, the next SW trigger must not be sent until the user frame has been transmitted
from the camera. This ensures that the on-camera memory only stores a single user frame at a time and no
additional latency builds up.
NOTE: The frame rate achievable in Live Mode is dependent on the performance of the system that the
camera is attached to.
2.7.5 Fast Exposure Switch
During an acquisition the user can change the exposure time, within allowable limits. Once a new exposure
value has been written, it will be applied to the next user frame after the current frame exposure has
completed.Theexposuretimecanbechangedanynumberoftimesbeforetheacquisitionnishes
2.7.6 Frame Rate Control
If Internal Trigger is being used, the camera will trigger the sensor at the fastest possible rate by default. The
usercanreducethistriggerratebydeningaFrameRatethatislessthanthemaximumpossiblerate.Frame
Rate must be set before the acquisition starts.
Note: This is currently only applicable to ‘long exposures’.
2.7.7 LightScan PLUS
LightScan PLUS describes a functionality of the Zyla 4.2 PLUS camera that allows the end-user to have more
control over the Rolling Shutter scanning mechanism that is inherent to CMOS sensors. This scanning mode can
be readily adapted to niche optical modalities, such as Scanned Light Sheet microscopy or Line Scan Confocal
Microscopy.
2.7.7.1 Multiple Readout Directions
The standard mode of operation in sCMOS cameras is to read out from the centre of the sensor out to the
edge with two halves of the sensor exposing simultaneously. LightScan PLUS provides the user with a range
ofdierentrollingshutterreadoutoptions.Firstly,therollingshuttercannowbescannedfromthetoptothe
bottom of the sensor or vice versa in one continuous sweep (Figure 34), adapting the sensor to single port
readout. It should be acknowledged however that this functionality will halve the rolling shutter frame rate,
resulting in a maximum full resolution frame rate of 50 fps.
Figure 34: LightScan PLUS enables the rolling shutter to scan the sensor from top to bottom or vice versa in one continuous sweep. This
is also known as Single Port Readout.