C-RED One and C-RED 2: SWIR advanced cameras using Saphira e-APD and Snake InGaAs detectors

摘要

After the development of the OCAM2 EMCCD fast visible camera [1] dedicated to advanced adaptive optics wavefront sensing, First Light Imaging moved to the SWIR fast cameras with the C-RED One and the C-RED 2 cameras. These cameras and their performances are described extensively in this paper. First Light Imaging C-RED One infrared camera is capable of capturing up to 3500 full frames per second with subelectron readout noise and very low background. C-RED One is based on the last version of the SAPHIRA detector developed by Leonardo UK. This breakthrough has been made possible thanks to the use of an e-APD infrared focal plane array which is a real disruptive technology in imagery. C-RED One is an autonomous system with an integrated cooling system and a vacuum regeneration system. It operates its sensor with a wide variety of read out techniques and processes video on-board thanks to a Xlinks embedded FPGA. In addition to this project, First Light Imaging developed an InGaAs 640x512 fast camera with unprecedented performances in terms of noise, dark and readout speed for equivalent products. This camera is based on the SNAKE SWIR detector from Sofradir and was called C-RED 2. The C-RED 2 characteristics and performances are also fully described in this paper. The C-RED One project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement N° 673944. C-RED2 development is supported by the "Investments for the future" program and the Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur Region, in the frame of the CPER.