Low Noise: An Integral Part of High-Performance CCD (HCCD) Camera Systems

The three primary sources of noise in a CCD imaging system are photon noise, dark noise, and read noise. This application note discusses the origins of each of these types of noise and explains how the latest HCCD cameras from Photometrics provide the high signal-to-noise ratios needed for imaging in lower light levels. It also demonstrates how they can vary their image-acquisition strategy to optimize camera performance.