Automated CCD camera characterization. 1998 summer research program for high school juniors at the University of Rochester`s Laboratory for Laser Energetics: Student research reports

The OMEGA system uses CCD cameras for a broad range of applications. Over 100 video rate CCD cameras are used for such purposes as targeting, aligning, and monitoring areas such as the target chamber, laser bay, and viewing gallery. There are approximately 14 scientific grade CCD cameras on the system which are used to obtain precise photometric results from the laser beam as well as target diagnostics. It is very important that these scientific grade CCDs are properly characterized so that the results received from them can be evaluated appropriately. Currently characterization is a tedious process done by hand. The operator must manually operate the camera and light source simultaneously. Because more exposures means more accurate information on the camera, the characterization tests can become very length affairs. Sometimes it takes an entire day to complete just a single plot. Characterization requires the testing of many aspects of the camera`s operation. Such aspects include the following: variance vs. mean signal level--this should be proportional due to Poisson statistics of the incident photon flux; linearity--the ability of the CCD to produce signals proportional to the light it received; signal-to-noise ratio--the relative magnitude of the signal vs. the uncertainty in that signal; dark current--the amount of noise due to thermal generation of electrons (cooling lowers this noise contribution significantly). These tests, as well as many others, must be conducted in order to properly understand a CCD camera. The goal of this project was to construct an apparatus that could characterize a camera automatically