iXon EMCCD Driving the absolute best from EMCCD technology

The Industry’s Highest Performance Scientific EMCCD Cameras Andor Technology pioneered the world’s first scientific Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) cameras, shipping the initial cameras back in 2000 and winning the Photonics Circle of Excellence award. At that time, Andor coined the name ‘Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD)’, which has been adopted right across this burgeoning industry. 2000 Since then, Andor has consistently set progressively higher EMCCD performance standards with our successive iXon series of deep-cooled, vacuum sealed, quantitative EMCCD cameras. For example, Andor introduced...

Ultimate sensitivity with super fast speeds Unparalleled flexibility and functionality The principal reason for making use of Andor’s iXon EMCCD technology is to ensure the absolute highest sensitivity from a quantitative scientific digital camera, particularly under fast frame rate conditions. In particular, truly exceptional speed performance is now available through the new iXon Ultra model. Andor’s proven UltraVac™ vacuum technology, carrying a seven year warranty, is critical to ensure both -100ºC deep cooling and complete protection of the sensor. The iXon series of cameras are designed...

iXon Ultra 888 Field of View and Sensitivity... now 3x faster! Features and Benefits Overclocked to 30 MHz readout Absolute EMCCD gain selectable directly from a linear and quantitative scale. Fringe Suppression (optional) Optimize the highly flexible iXon for different application requirements at the click of a button. Count Convert Quantitatively capture and view data in electrons or incident photons. Applied either in real time or postprocessing, Count Convert does this important conversion for you. Patented user-initiated self-recalibration of EM gain. Exposure time fast switching provides...

iXon Ultra 897 Ultimate sensitivity ... supercharged! Features and Benefits Overclocked to 17 MHz readout Optically Centred Crop Mode (live cell super-resolution) Optimize the highly flexible iXon for different application requirements at the click of a button Count Convert Quantitatively capture and view data in electrons or incident photons. Applied either in real time or postprocessing, Count Convert does this important conversion for you. Patented user-initiated self-recalibration of EM gain. Exposure time fast switching provides market leading acquisition efficiency. Minimal Clock-Induced...

iXon3 860 Lightning speed and sensitivity Features and Benefits 513 full fps Fast frame rates ideal for ion signaling microscopy and adaptive optics. Critical for elimination of dark current detection limit. Absolute EMCCD gain selectable directly from a linear and quantitative scale. Optimize the highly flexible iXon3 for different application requirements at the click of a button. Count Convert Quantitatively capture and view data in electrons or incident photons. Applied either in real time or postprocessing, Count Convert does this important conversion for you. Exposure time fast switching...

Performance & Innovations Industry Fastest Frame Rate Maximum frame rate performance in EMCCDs is a function of two parameters; (1) Pixel Readout Speed (horizontal); (2) Vertical Clock speed. The former dictates how rapidly charge is pushed horizontally through the EM gain register and the remaining readout electronics, while the latter dictates the speed at which charge is vertically shifted down through both the exposed sensor area and masked frame transfer area of the chip. iXon offers industry fastest vertical shift speeds, resulting in faster frame rates and reduced smearing, significantly...

Performance & Innovations EX2 Technology – Extended QE from Dual AR sensor coating Fringe Suppression Sensors Selected iXon models are now available with a new Dual Anti-Reflection coating applied to the back-illuminated sensor, affording a significant enhancement of the Quantum Efficiency performance. Selected iXon models are now available with a new Fringe Suppression property in the sensor design, reducing spatial etaloning effects that can arise through monochromatic imaging in the Near Infra-Red (NIR) wavelength range. Available on the new speed-boosted iXon Ultra 897 and 888 models, EX2...

Performance & Innovations Deep Thermoelectric Cooling Spurious Noise Filter Single thermal electrons are amplified by the EMCCD gain mechanism. Deep vacuum TE cooling is critical to optimize the sensitivity performance of EMCCD sensors, otherwise the raw sensitivity will be compromised, even under conditions of short exposures. It can still be desirable to optionally filter the remaining spurious noise (Clock-Induced Charge or photons) to give as ‘black’ a background as possible, eradicating any remaining ‘salt and pepper’ noise. It is important to utilize noise selection and filter algorithms...

Performance & Innovations Vacuum The iXon is well regulated in terms of both Baseline (bias offset) rigidity and superior EM gain stability, lending for enhanced quantitative reliability throughout and between measurements. Baseline Clamp OFF Window (Anti-reflection Coated) Heat Removal EM Gain Stability Mean ROI signal / ADU Andor’s proprietary UltraVac process has a proven track record of field reliability, accumulated over more than 15 years of shipping high-end vacuum cameras. UltraVac also enables use of only one input window, improving photon-throughput by 8%. Permanent, All-Metal Seal...

Performance & Innovations Software Solutions ‘2 in 1’ Performance - EMCCD and CCD Three of the back-illuminated iXon models offer ‘2 in 1’ performance flexibility, in terms of operating as a single photon EMCCD or a low noise conventional CCD, readily user selectable through software selection. Such versatility is attractive in laboratories that can require the camera to operate in low light conditions under both fast and slow frame rates. In photon starved applications, choosing the EMCCD amplifier usually yields better signal to noise ratio when under faster frame rates conditions (> 1 fps),...