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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	USB SP503U-1550
Application	NIR wavelengths,½" format, low resolution
Spectral Response	1440 - 1605nm
Maximum beam size	6.3mm W x 4.7mm H
Pixel spacing⁽¹⁾	9.9µm x 9.9µm
Number of effective pixels	640 x 480
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	30 fps at full resolution 60 fps at 320x240
Shutter duration	30µs to multiple frame times
Gain control	43:1 manual
Trigger	Supports both Trigger In and Strobe Out.
Photodiode trigger	Consult Factory
Saturation intensity	7mW/cm² at 1550 nm
Lowest measurable signal	~ 50µW/cm²
Damage threshold	50W/cm²/0.1J/cm² with all filters installed for <100ns pulse width⁽⁴⁾
Dimensions and CCD recess	89mm x 89mm x 28mm CCD recess: 4.5mm below surface
Operation mode	Interline transfer progressive scan CCD
Software supported	BeamGage
PC interface	USB 2.0

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 USB2 Beam Profiler Systems (camera and software)

	BGS-USB-SP503-1550	BeamGage Standard software, software license, ½” format 640x480 pixel camera with 4.5mm CCD recess. Phosphor coated to 1550 nm. Comes with USB cable and 3 ND filters	SP90198

BeamGage Professional USB2 Beam Profiler Systems (camera and software)

	BGP-USB-SP503-1550	BeamGage Professional Edition software, software license, 1/2” format 640x480 pixel camera with 4.5mm CCD recess. Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor. Comes with USB cable and 3 ND filters.	SP90237

BeamGage Enterprise USB2 Beam Profiler Systems (camera and software)

	BGE-USB-SP503-1550	BeamGage Enterprise Edition software, software license, 1/2” format 640x480 pixel camera with 4.5mm CCD recess. Phosphor coated 1550nm sensor. Comes with USB cable and 3 ND filters.	SP90247

	PC Accessories for Cameras

	USB A-B Cable	USB Cable with A to B connectors, 5 meter length	SP90204

	USB A-mini B Cable	USB Cable with A to mini-B connectors, 5 meter length	SP90205

	Optical Synch for Pulsed Lasers

	Optical Trigger for FX and SP Cameras	Optical trigger assembly which can be mounted on camera or separately to sense laser pulses and synchronize FX and SP cameras with pulses. Comes with a BNC cable to for mounting on camera and a stand for mounting separately.	SPZ17005

		Beam Profilers Catalog 82 pages (5.44 MB )
		LBA-USB user manual 133 pages (1.09 MB )
		BeamGage User Guide 149 pages (5.24 MB )

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