EMCCDs: 10 MHz and beyond

EMCCDs are capable of MHz pixel rate whilst maintaining sub-electron readout noise. Tens of frames per second are common place for large and medium EMCCD formats (1k×1k, 512×512), while smaller formats can reach hundreds and even thousand of frames per second. For applications where speed is a key factor, overclocked EMCCD were used at or beyond the manufacturer’s specifications. Very few data were published on the impacts of high speed clocking of EMCCDs, either vertically or horizontally. This paper presents characterization results of EMCCDs clocked at high speed.