The Use of CCD camera for Laser Research | ||
The Use of CCD Cameras for Laser Research.
Jose Mawyin, John Noe, Harold Metcalf, Laser Teaching
Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University at Stony
Brook.
Charged Coupled Device (CCD) cameras, are a new developtment in
electronics that are rising fast as a indispensable tool in optical
research. They provide a fast way to gather information about the
intensity of laser light. Since this data is stored in a digital
format, the manipulation of this digital array is a fast and easy
proces.
However, the researcher has to be careful in the equipment that it is choosen. The recording and storage of the information is never a hundred per cent accurate, because every electronic device has a maximum level of resolution and a signal to noise ratio. This is all due to the inherent accuracy limits of any sensor device and in some cases due to design or manufacturing flaws. There are many kinds of CCD cameras, each with different properties. This paper will concentrate on the differences between CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon) Vs C.C.D. cameras, Black and White Vs Color cameras, Full Frame transfer Vs Interline transfer Vs Frame transfer, and Comercial Vs Research Grade. All the different analysis will center around a HeNe 632.8 nm laser and how they respond in doing interferometry on a interference pattern produced by this laser. | ||
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