Can Ophir pyroelectric sensors measure single shot energy or energy at very low repetition rates?

Ophir pyroelectric sensors can measure energy at very low repetition rates, what is called “single shot” energy as well as at various repetition rates all the way up to the maximum in the specification for such sensors. There seems to be a misunderstanding among users that pyroelectric sensors cannot measure single shot energy. This probably comes about since thermal sensors can only measure at very low repetition rates (~0.2Hz), then it is assumed that the converse applies to pyroelectric sensors, i.e. that they only can only measure at faster repetition rates, but this is not true.

Below is a table showing the stability of reading of a typical pyroelectric sensor at various repetition rates showing the good agreement in reading from 10Hz down to 1 pulse every 10s.

  • Sensor: PE250BF-C
  • Pulse width: 100 us
  • Pulse width setting: 1 ms
Pulse Frequency Hz Difference in reading from 10Hz
10 0
5 0.10%
1 0.70%
0.5 0.60%
0.1 0.70%

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