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K: Fachverband Kurzzeit- und angewandte Laserphysik

K 5: Optical Methods

K 5.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 5, 2026, 11:00–11:30, HS 20

Scientific imaging in experimental physics: from photon flux to detector requirements and challenges for scientific cameras — •Simon Aßmann — Excelitas PCO GmbH, Donaupark 11, 93309 Kelheim

Optical imaging is essential in experimental physics whenever spatially and/or temporally resolved measurements are required. The motivation for using a camera arises from the need to capture intensity distributions, structural features, and spatial or temporal dynamics of light emission, scattering, or transmission that cannot be adequately measured with point detectors. Depending on the application, the underlying light conditions, such as photon flux, spectral characteristics, contrast, and relevant timescales, impose distinct requirements on detector performance. This contribution provides an overview of how these conditions translate into concrete camera specifications and highlights the relevance of key parameters such as spectral quantum efficiency, photon-shot and readout noise, dynamic range, pixel size, temporal sampling capability, and data-interface bandwidth. The current state of scientific camera technology is examined, and it is assessed how closely modern detectors approach the properties expected from an ideal sensor. A brief overview of the main camera system classes in the PCO portfolio, as well as recent challenges and developments, is discussed with respect to different types of experimental measurement scenarios.

Keywords: image intensifier; sCMOS camera; high-speed camera; SWIR camera; particle image velocimetry (PIV)