Scientific Reports (Mar 2021)

A method for EMCCD multiplication gain measurement with comprehensive correction

  • Li Qiao,
  • Mingfu Wang,
  • Zheng Jin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85511-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Abstract In order to improve the image quality, it is imperative to conduct the non-uniformity correction of EMCCD, for which the measurement accuracy of the internal electron multiplication gain of each channel is a prerequisite within multi-channel output EMCCD. It is known that the smaller the image standard deviation of each channel, the better the image uniformity, and the closer the calculated multiplier gain is to the real value. In order to minimize the influence of non-uniformity of background between pixels and light response existing in traditional measurement, a comprehensively modified EMCCD multiplication gain measurement is proposed after the working principle of EMCCD is described. The output images of the camera working in the normal CCD mode and EMCCD mode are corrected comprehensively through this method. The experimental results show that after the comprehensive correction, the standard deviation of the output image of each channel within the camera decreases to about one third of the original when the camera works in the normal CCD mode, while it decreases to about one fifth of the original when the camera works in the EMCCD mode, the signal stability is significantly improved, and the measured multiplier gain of each channel is closer to the true value of the detector, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed method.