C-RED 2 Product Handbook November 2018 FAST LOW NOISE SWIR InGaAs CAMERA www.first-light-imaging.com
C-RED 2Product HandbookNovember 2018
FAST LOW NOISE SWIRInGaAs CAMERA
www.first-light-imaging.com
Dark vs Sensor temperature
Test measurement
Maximum speed Full Frame with CL
Readout Noise at 600 fps
Dark Current in e/p/s @ - 40°C
Quantization
Detector Operating Temperature
Flat Quantum Efficiency from 0.9 to 1.7 µm
Operability
Image Full well capacity at low gain, 600 fps
Image Full well capacity at high gain, 600 fps
Result
602
< 30
600
14
-40
> 70
99.5
1400
43
Unit
FPS
e-
e-
bit
C°
%
ke-
%
ke-
PRODUCT OVERVIEWC-RED 2 is a revolutionary high speed and low noise InGaAs camera:High speed up to 600 fps, low noise 30 e– RON, with low dark current 600e– /pixel / second @ -40°C, in a compact, reliable and affordable camera.Due to its innovative technology, C-RED 2 allows unprecedented performances compared to the competition but remains a “plug and see” product: USB 3 data interface for easy use or Camera Link® to manage the high speed data transfer, air cooling for compacity or liquid cooling for better noise performances.Whatever your application is, C-RED 2 offers a lot of possibilities to meet your requirements.
C-RED 2 is the perfect tool for High End applications in SWIR imaging.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
QE(%)
Lambda (µm)
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
300 500 700 900 1100 1300 1500 1900 1700 Maximum speed in 32 x 4 (min) 32066 FPS
Maximum speed in 320 x 256 1779 FPS
InGaAs VGA SENSORC-RED 2 integrates a top of the art InGaAs sensor, able to detect wavelength ranges between 0.9 and 1.7 µm with more than 70% Quantum Efficiency and low dark current. It integrates a VGA (640X512) 15µm pixel pitch and 9.60 X 7.68 mm array with 3 levels of gain.
MAIN FEATURES• 640X512 InGaAs sensor• 0.9 to 1.7µm (>70% QE)• Windowing and ROI• Cooled sensor operation for low dark (600e– /p/s@-40°C)• USB 3 interface or Camera Link® for better performances• On Board IMRO mode• On Board Non Uniformity Correction: Bias, Flat, Bad Pixels
• 600 FPS full frame
• <30e Read Out Noise
• <5 µs electronic shutter
• Operation Temperature: Air -15°C, Liquid -40°C
• Weight: 0.9 kg
• Optical interface : C-Mount
RON+Dark at -40°C vs speed
2
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0,1 1 10 100 1000
Noi
se (e
-)
Frame rate (FPS)
100
1000
10000
100000
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20
Da
rk C
urr
en
t (e
-/s
/pix
)
Sensor Temperature (°C)
Ndark (e-/pix/s)
<600 e-/p/s @ functional temperature
NOISE FEATURESAir or Liquid cooling? C-RED 2 offers two different ways of cooling:Air cooling down to -15°C for applications that don’t require very low noise performances, compact, except data and power connection there is no needed accessories. Liquid cooling enables to cool down the camera to -40°C and reach unprecedented noise performances.Liquid cooling allows to work without fan for vibration sensitive applications.
RON+ Dark as a function of Sensor temperature and Integration time
Air cooling Liquid cooling
-15°C Compact No Impact on Speed Min Dark current: 2300 e/p/s Total noise @50µs Int. Time and 600 FPS: 26e-
-40°C High Performances No fan Min Dark current: 556 e/p/s Total noise @50µs Int. Time and 600 FPS: 24e-
SPEED FEATURESCL or USB 3?C-RED 2 uses the Camera Link® Full interface. This protocol requires 2 data cables. The camera has been developed and tested with specific grabbers, it is highly recommended to use these grabbers (Matrox Radient ev-CL). For high speed applications we recommend Camera Link® which enables very low latency.
C-RED 2 can also work with USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface, the connector type is USB-C, in this configuration C-RED 2 is detected as a composite USB device (control + acquisition interface).
Readout Modes and Integration Times:The acquisition speed can be set from 0.01 to 600 fps, the integration time can be set from 20µs to 1/fps.
Different available Readout Modes:Single Read: The entire frame is read before a reset period.Integrated Multiple Readout (IMRO): The user must specify a number of multiple non-destructive reads which corresponds to a number of frames that are read and delivered at a selected speed. It’s a burst mode.
Cropping and Windowing:It is possible to select one region of interest and acquire datas from this ROI only, column granularity is 32 and rows granularity is 4. Speed increases with read array reduction.
Temperature 20 °C 0 °C -15 °C -40 °C
Tint NOISE (e-)
DARK (e-/frame/
pixel)
NOISE (e-)
DARK (e-/frame/
pixel)
NOISE (e-)
DARK (e-/frame/
pixel)
NOISE (e-)
DARK (e-/frame/
pixel)
50µs 28 3,51 27 0,53 26 0,12 24 0,03
1,66ms 37 116,56 34 17,72 32 3,82 29 0,92
1s (e-/s/pixel)
- 70219 131 10672 75 2300 50 556
Columns
3
Lines
32 64 128 256 512 640
Columns
4 32 066 31 512 30 458 28 548 25 367 24 029
8 28 108 27 348 25 945 23 532 19 840 18 397
16 22 542 21 631 20 015 17 413 13 819 12 526
32 16 147 15 254 13 736 11 455 8 599 7 646
64 10 302 9 596 8 440 6 801 4 898 4 297
128 5 975 5 509 4 765 3 752 2 632 2 291
256 3 247 2 975 2 547 1 978 1 367 1 184
512 1 697 1 549 1 319 1 016 697 602
Frame rate table at 600 FPS readout SPeed
Camera link® outPut
Lines
32 64 128 256 512 640
Columns
4 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999
8 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999
16 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999
32 9 999 9 999 9 999 9 999 8 599 7 646
64 9 999 9 596 8 440 6 801 4 898 4 297
128 5 975 5 509 4 765 3 752 2 632 2 291
256 3 247 2 975 2 547 1 978 1 367 1 184
512 1 697 1 549 1 319 1 016 697 600
Frame rate table at 600 FPS readout SPeed
uSb 3 outPut
USER INTERFACEGUI short description:The C-RED 2 Demo Software is a simple application that allows to configure the C-RED 2 camera and capture images sent by the camera.
Configuration: FPS, exposure time, geometry, bias, flat…Bias / Flat correction:Bias and Flat correction can be done on the fly by the camera or custom corrections can be uploaded.Frame acquisition: start / stop / saving…Basic frame display: clipping, mirroring, rotating…Basic statistics: standard deviation, average value, histogram, cross section…Camera monitoring: status, temperatures, power consumption…Camera maintenance :The source code is available and can be used as an example to build a custom system. But our Demo software can be used for basic applications.
COMPACT AND MULTI INTERFACE
4
Compacity:Such a powerful and versatile tool in 140X75X55 mm and 0.9kg.
Synchronisation:C-RED 2 can be synchronised as master or slave to an external source thanks to its two sync connectors.
APPLICATIONSC-RED 2 is your perfect tool for SWIR scientific or high end industrial applications.With very low noise, low dark and very high speed, C-RED 2 can be used for low light and long exposure times applications (Astronomy, Raman spectroscopy, Hyperspectral imaging), as well as fast motion applications (semi conductor inspection, laser profiling…).C-RED 2 is the only InGaAs VGA camera on the market coupling such speed and image quality at the same time.
• Adaptive Optics for Astronomy • Semiconductor Inspection• Astronomical Observations • Solar Cells Inspection• Hyper Spectral Imaging • OCT Imaging• Spectroscopy • Bio Imagery• Raman Spectroscopy • Quality control• Laser Communications • Production control
PACKINGC-RED 2 is delivered with its power unit, USB cable and GUI demo software.
Accessories:
Acquisition Pack: PC ; frame grabber ; CL cables (5 meters).
Cooling Pack: Chiller ; Hoses ; Connectors.
Mounting Pack: M6 adapter ; Screws.
Other Accessories: Support and screws ; USB 3 industrial cable ; synchronisation cables.
MODELS AND PERFORMANCES
C-RED 400 C-RED 600
Sensor resolutionSpeed at full frameDark + RON at high gainData InterfaceReadout ModesQuantizationDynamic Range
640X512400 fps30eUSB 3 or Camera LinkSingle Read, IMRO14 bits63 dB
640X512600 fps30eUSB 3 or Camera LinkSingle Read14 bits63 dB
5
OUR COMPANYFirst Light Imaging designs and manufactures state of the art scientific cameras that combine extreme sensitivity and high speed for both visible and infrared spectra. Coming from European academic research institutes, already multiple award-winning, First Light Imaging is recognized for the high performance of its products.We develop our cameras around cutting-edge sensors. EMCCD, e-APD or InGaAs, we integrate the most challenging, difficult to harness detectors in complex optics systems.Already at the heart of the Adaptive Optics systems for the world’s biggest telescopes, our technology and detectors are also used in Life Sciences and Industry.
OUR CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERSToday, world leading institutes and manufacturers on 4 continents have given us their trust, and we are proud to count among our partners and clients:
First Light Imaging SASEuroparc Sainte Victoire Bât 6,Route de Valbrillant, Le Canet
13590 Meyreuil FRANCETel.: + 33 4 42 61 29 20
First Light Imaging Corp.185 Alewife Brook Parkway, Suite 210Cambridge, MA 02138USAwww.first-light.us
NASA - JPL
This project is supported by the «Investments for the future» program and the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Region, in the frame of the CPER