Andor Ixon Ultra EMCCD Camera Exclusively for Physical Science

With the single photon sensitive iXon Ultra EMCCD cameras, Andor have delivered a dedicated, truly high-end, yet accessible scientific camera platform, designed specifically to drive the absolute best from ultra-sensitive EMCCD technology across all critical performance specs and parameters.

Single photon sensitivity
Back-illuminated > 95% QE
-100°C cooling for minimal dark noise
Fast frame rates
Quantum Imaging
High Cadence Astronomy

Ultimate Photon Counting EMCCD Solution
The single photon sensitive iXon Ultra EMCCD represents the best rapid imaging detector for knowing with a very high degree of certainty whether a photon has been detected in a pixel, especially critical for quantum entanglement experiments. Back-illuminated EMCCD remains the leading technology for determining one from zero.
- Detect > 90% of photon events – single photon sensitivity and > 90% QE
- Discriminate correlated photons – from -100°C cooling and minimized spurious noise events
- Arrays up to 1 megapixel – massively parallel detection of quantum correlations
- Fast Count Rates – up to hundreds of fps for accelerated measurement rates
- Biphoton detection – superb charge transfer efficiency for discrimination of photon pairs in adjacent pixels

Models	iXon Ultra 888	iXon Ultra 897
Core attributes	Field of view, sensitivity and speed	Sensitivity and speed
Sensor format	1024 x 1024	512 x 512
Sensor diagonal	18.8 mm	11.6 mm
Read Noise	< 1 e- with EM Gain	< 1 e- with EM Gain
Cooling	-95°C	-100°C
Darkcurrent	0.00011 e-/pixel/sec	0.00015 e-/pixel/sec
Spurious Background (CIC)	0.005 events/pixel	0.0018 events/pixel
QE Options	BV, EX2, UVB	BV, EX2, UVB
Frame Rate	26 fps (670 fps with 128 x 128 Crop Mode)	56 fps (595 fps with 128 x 128 Crop Mode)
Pixel well depth	80,000 e-	180,000 e-
Interface	USB 3.0	USB 2.0
Learn More	Specifications	Specifications

Both iXon Ultra models offer ‘2 in 1’ performance flexibility, operating either as a single photon EMCCD or a low noise conventional CCD, readily user-selectable through software. Such versatility is attractive in laboratories that can require the camera to operate in low light conditions under both fast and slow frame rate conditions. In photon starved applications, choosing the EMCCD amplifier usually yields better signal to noise ratio when under faster frame rates conditions (> 1 fps), whereas often the CCD amplifier can yield better signal to noise ratio when longer exposures can be applied and when the sensor can be read out slowly (i.e. ‘seconds per frame’ rather than ‘frames per second’).

However, in either EMCCD or CCD configuration, a special ‘Fast Kinetics’ capability can be accessed to collect bursts of data with microsecond time resolution. This can be useful in BEC experiments, for example, to measure time-of-flight rapid cloud dynamics immediately after the MOT is turned off.

EMCCD	CCD
Single Photon Sensitive	3 to 6 e- read noise
Multiplication noise	No Multiplication noise
Faster frame rates possible	Restricted to slower frame rates

The basic trade-offs between EMCCD and conventional CCD amplifiers

Delivering over 95% peak QE and offering broad coverage from UV through to NIR, iXon Ultra spectral response is suited to a wide range of science; from NIR photometry of cold dwarf stars, to quantum optics of degenerate gases, to imaging of ion traps. Fringe suppression options are available for NIR imaging with reduced etaloning.

The new ‘BB’ sensor option offers up to 20% higher sensitivity to photons across the blue region of the spectrum, ideal for fast imaging of quantum trapped ions, an important quantum computing qubit approach.