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Low Cost NIR Camera Technology
Spiricon’s 1550 series, phosphor coated CCD cameras, provide a new low cost alternative for measuring and viewing the output of NIR telecom devices and NIR lasers. The thin phosphor film coating is an anti-Stokes material that up-converts NIR radiation in the 1440nm to 1605nm range to visible light measurable by the CCD.
Phosphor Coating Technology
The up-conversion from NIR to visible light in the 1550 series cameras is nonlinear. The anti-Stokes phosphor coating produces visible photons at a rate roughly the square of the input signal. This is shown dramatically in Figure 1, where the camera total output increases dramatically faster than a linear output shown in the bottom line.
	Figure 2. Cross-section of a fiber beam with and without non-linearity correction.

	Wavelength Response
	The anti-Stokes up-conversion efficiency is very wavelength dependent. Figure 3 shows the typical spectral response curve of a new, high response coating. As seen, we have calibrated the response from 1527nm to 1605nm. We have extrapolated the shorter wavelength region by comparing our measured response to data published over the entire range.
Figure 1. Non-linear output of the 1550 series cameras.

The significance of this non-linearity is that from the CCD camera saturation in the center of a beam, the up-converted visible signal drops as the square of the input signal. Thus the lower signal wings of a beam are suppressed, resulting in the appearance and measurement of a beam width much smaller than actual.
Figure 2 illustrates a comparison of the cross-section of a beam with and without correction. (As seen, the real width of the beam is much greater than would be observed without correction.)
	full signal illumination by anti-Stokes up conversion material.

1550 Series Cameras with Spiricon’s BeamGage Software

Figure 4. Linear output of the 1550 series cameras after processing by LBA-XXXPC software.

Figures 5a and 5b show the actual beam shape and the uncorrected camera beam shape in 3D.

Figure 5a. Beam profile of a fiber beam with non-linearity correction.	Figure 5b. Beam profile of a fiber beam without non-linearity correction.

Phosphor Coated NIR Cameras

Model	GRAS20-1550
Application:	NIR wavelengths, 1/1.8" format, adjustable ROI
Spectral Response:	1440 - 1605nm
Maximum beam size	7.1mm x 5.4mm
Pixel spacing⁽¹⁾	4.4µm x 4.4µm
Number of effective pixels	1600 x 1200
Minimum system dynamic range⁽²⁾	~30 dB
Linearity with Power	±5%
Spatial Uniformity	±5%
Accuracy of beam width	±5% for beams larger than 0.6 mm
Frame rates⁽³⁾ In 12 bit mode	15Hz full res >60Hz with smaller ROI⁽³⁾
Shutter duration	30µs to multiple frame times
Gain control	0db to 25db Manual control
Trigger	Supports both Trigger In and Strobe Out.
Photodiode trigger	N/A (consult factory)
Saturation intensity	7mW/cm² at 1550 nm
Lowest measurable signal	~ 50µW/cm²
Damage threshold	0.15 mW/cm²
Dimensions and CCD recess	20mm x 44mm x 58mm Fixed C-mount
Operation mode	Interline transfer progressive scan CCD
Software supported	BeamGage
PC interface	IEEE 1394b GRAS20
Host system requirements	IEEE 1394 port or PCI-Express or CardBus Slot

Despite the small pixel size, the spatial resolution will not exceed 50µm due to diffusion of the light by the phosphor coating.
Signal to noise ratio is degraded due to the gamma of the phosphor's response. Averaging or summing of up to 256 frames improves dynamic range by up to 16x = +24dB
In normal (non-shuttered) camera operation, the frame rate is the fastest rate at which the laser may pulse and the camera can still separate one pulse from the next. With electronic shutter operation, higher rate laser pulses can be split out by matching the laser repetition to the shutter speed.
This is the damage threshold of the filter glass of the filters. Assuming all filters mounted with ND1 (red housing) filter in the front. Distortion of the beam may occur with average power densities as low as 5W/cm²

Cameras are part of a Laser Beam Analysis System
The camera and software are sold as a package

	Item	Description	P/N

BeamGage Standard FireWire Beam Profiler Systems (camera and software)

	BGS-FWB-GRAS20-1550,DESKTOP	BeamGage Standard software, software license, 1/1.8” format 1600x1200 Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor, 1394b camera with 17.5mm C-mount recess. Comes with 1394b and trigger cable, PCI-Express interface card and 3 ND filters. Desktop model	SP90203D

	BGS-FWB-GRAS20-1550,LAPTOP	BeamGage Standard software, software license, 1/1.8” format 1600x1200 Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor 1394b camera with 17.5mm C-mount recess. Comes with 1394b and trigger cable, PCI-Express interface card and 3 ND filters. Laptop Model	SP90203L

BeamGage Professional FireWire Beam Profiler Systems (camera and software)

	BGP-FWB-GRAS20-1550-DESK	BeamGage Professional Edition software, software license, 1/1.8” format 1600x1200 pixel camera with C-mount CCD recess. Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor. Comes with 1394b and trigger cables, PCIExpress interface card and 3 ND filters. Desktop model.	SP90243D

	BGP-FWB-GRAS20-1550-LAPTP	BeamGage Professional Edition software, software license, 1/1.8” format 1600x1200 pixel camera with C-mount CCD recess. Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor. Comes with 1394b and trigger cable, PCI-Express interface card, camera power supply, and 3 ND filters. Laptop model.	SP90243L

BeamGage Enterprise FireWire Beam Profiler Systems (camera and software)

	BGE-FWB-GRAS20-1550-DESK	BeamGage Enterprise Edition software, software license, 1/1.8” format 1600x1200 pixel camera with C-mount CCD recess. Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor.. Comes with 1394b and trigger cable, PCI-Express interface card and 3 ND filters. Desktop model..	SP90253D

	BGE-FWB-GRAS20-1550-LAPTP	BeamGage Enterprise Edition software, software license, 1/1.8” format 1600x1200 pixel camera with C-mount CCD recess. Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor. Comes with 1394b and trigger cable, PCI-Express interface card, camera power supply, and 3 ND filters. Laptop model.	SP90253L

	PC Accessories for Cameras

	PCI-Express FireWire 1394a/b Desktop Card	PCI-Express, IEEE 1394a/b FireWire card for installation to desktop PC’s. Card has both 1394a and 1394b compatible ports. Compatible with all LBA and BeamStar FireWire systems.	SP90164

	1394b FireWire Cable	1394b FireWire cable, 4.5 meter length	SP90166

	1394a/b Adapter Cable	1394a-6 to 1394b-9 adaptor cable, 4.5 meter length	SP90207

	1394b FireWire Power Supply	External Wall cube power supply for 1394b CardBus and PCI-Express/34 Laptop Adapters.	SP90167

		Beam Profilers Catalog 82 pages (5.44 MB )
		LBA-FW-SCOR user manual 144 pages (2.13 MB )
		BeamGage User Guide 149 pages (5.24 MB )

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