Kinetics Readout for Fast Temporal Studies

Custom Chip mode
“Custom chip” mode allows users to redefine the size of the active area right from the software. By ignoring the pixels outside the active area, the readout time is reduced. As a result, the frame rate can be increased from the standard operation by up to 2 to 4 times when only a small region needs to be imaged. In order to effectively use the “custom chip” mode, the area outside the active area must be externally blocked from light. The following graph provides sample frame rates that can be achieved by ProEM: 512B/512BK at 10MHz readout speed using both standard and custom chip readout modes.

When binning is used, ProEM can achieve >10kHz “continuous” spectral rate for ultra-high rime resolution

Kinetics and Spectra-Kinetics readout modes
Kinetics refers to the burst mode of operation where only a partial number of rows are illuminated and shifted under the mask. The mode is useful for capturing “single-shot” phenomenon at high temporal resolution (microseconds).

Spectra-Kinetics (optional in 512B/1024B, Included in 512BK) is even more specialized mode designed for, as the name suggests, for ultra-fast spectroscopy. In this mode, a few rows closest to the frame transfer mask are illuminated, during the vertical shift, all the signal from these rows is binned under the first row under the frame transfer mask. In the next cycle, the charge from this row is shifted by one row under the mask and the next illuminated frame is “binned” under the previous row. This continues until the entire frame transfer mask area is filled. In this mode, irrespective of the illuminated window height, it is possible to get greater number of kinetic frames while increasing sensitivity via binning.