Scientific Imaging

Low light Scientific Imaging Applications for cooled CCD cameras

This page displays a number of applications where Atik Cameras have proven to be ideal for scientific imaging. As a result, if you have an application which requires high quality images and over long exposure times then Atik will have the ideal product for you. Contact us for more details.

Atik Cameras White Paper – CCD and CMOS technology for OEM applications

In this paper, we describe the application and relevant features of the sensor technology and explain our reasoning.

Please complete the below form to download the white paper.

White Paper Download - CCD and CMOS in OEM Applications

Fluorescence inspection of jet turbine blades

Dr John Day and Scott Greenwell work at the Interface Analysis Centre, University of Bristol. They have been using a VS60 to image the Aluminium Oxide (Alumina) used as a protective coating for turbine blades by Rolls-Royce PLC*. The Alumina contains small traces of Chromium impurity absorbed from the superalloy used to manufacture the turbine blade. Chromium doped Alumina exhibits the same fluorescence response as Ruby with 2 extremely sharp and intense red emission lines at around 693nm. By imaging the blades under green light with an Artemis camera and a tuneable filter set to 693nm pass band they can image the Alumina directly. As a result of this, by tuning to a nearby wavelength, they can image any other contaminants that may also fluoresce in that region. The difference in the two images provides a rapid way of determining the integrity of the protective coating.

* “Development of an imaging system for the detection of alumina on turbine blades” Greenwell, S; Kell, J; Day, J. Meas. Sci. Technol. 25 (2014) 035902 (6pp).

Fluorescence imaging of Alumina
Image:

  • a) shows a reflected light image of a turbine blade annotated by a marker pen.
  • b) shows a fluorescence image with bandpass filter set to 693nm , showing Alumina and contribution from other fluorescent contaminants
  • c) shows fluorescence image with filter set to 670nm bandpass, rejecting Alumina contribution at 693nm
  • d) Image c is subtracted from image b to show alumina coverage on the turbine blade surface.

Atmospheric Research with Atik 4000

f/0.95 all-sky imager for upper atmosphere airglow studies

(Images courtesy KEO Scientific Ltd)

Atik Cameras have been used in many areas where low light conditions are essential or simply a fact of life. The following list provides some key examples of applications which have employed Atik designs to great success. This list is not exhaustive and some applications have not been identified due to customer confidentiality.

Time-Gated Luminescence

Atik were proud to be invited to co-author a white paper demonstrating how time-gated luminescence images can be obtained by analog summation of a series of sequential images that were obtained with a modified cooled interline CCD camera (314L+), and a fluorescence microscope modified to use a UV LED for illumination. An abstract of the white paper is available here.

Contact us for further information