Million-frame-per-second CCD camera system

\Lfl ultra high frame rate CCD type solid state image sensor has been developed, capable of frame rates up to a million frames per second. Referring to Figure 1 and Table 1 ,each macro-pixel of the 360 x 360 pixel array ontains a photo-detector and a 30 element CCD type memory array. The image acquisition frame rate is the rate at which photoelectrons are read out of the photo-detector into the pixel' s memory array. After the pixel memory fills, further exposures replace the oldest stored images in a "first in- first out" mode of operation. Thus the imager continuously stores the last 30 images acquired. This allows a pre-trigger mode of operation, making it possible to capture poorly predicted and spontaneous transient events. Readout of the stored images is similar to a frame transfer CCD readout and is at a comparatively slow pixel rate, consistent with low readout noise and inexpensive, PC based data acquisition systems. During the readout, the thirty images are demultiplexed and assembled in the computer's memory for display. A fast framing camera system employing this unique image sensor is currently being evaluated for a variety of applications. This paper presents these evaluation results which include high frame rate image sequences of hypersonic gas turbulence and fluid cavitation processes.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.