22 Jan

High-resolution Low Light Andor CB2 sCMOS Camera

Oxford Instruments, leading provider of high technology products and services for research and industry, has today announced the launch of a high resolution, low noise, back-illuminated sCMOS camera, further strengthening its broad portfolio of cameras for low light imaging in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Industrial applications.

Andor CB2 24B back-illuminated CMOS: high-resolution, high-sensitivity, high-speed, global shutter over a wide field of view.

Drawing upon decades of heritage in the astronomy and life science domains, the new Andor CB2 sCMOS camera platform launches with the CB2 24B model, a state-of-the-art scientific camera that delivers unmatched imaging quality and outstanding flexibility for a broad range of cutting-edge scientific and industrial/OEM applications.

The CB2 24B features a back-illuminated 24.5 Megapixel sCMOS sensor that combines high sensitivity with high speeds and global shutter. It enables high-resolution imaging over a wide field of view, capturing exceptional detail without compromise.

Remarkably flexible and adaptable camera, it can be applied across a broad range of imaging speeds and exposure conditions, from imaging of fast-moving objects or photometric variability at hundreds of frames per second (fps), to imaging of extremely low light signal with exposures up to several minutes, due to its ultra-low dark current down to 0.0015 e-/pix/sec with -20°C TEC cooling. Consequently, Andor CB2 24B finally offers a true alternative to deep-cooled CCD cameras for long exposure applications such as bioluminescence or astro-photometry/astro-spectroscopy.

Furthermore, the unique ‘on-chip’ 2x2 pixel binning feature allows the native 2.74μm pixel to be converted to a 5.48μm pixel without increasing the read noise. This inherent optical flexibility significantly expands the application adaptability of the camera. For example, in microscopy, the effective pixel size can be set to match objectives from 10x through to 60x.

The global shutter ‘snapshot’ exposure capability, as well as assuring temporal correlation across all pixels and avoiding spatial distortion when imaging fast-moving objects, also renders the camera suited to applications such as particle imaging velocimetry for fluid dynamics, where a short inter-frame gap is essential. The lack of a mechanical shutter also presents a low maintenance solution to remote astronomy and X-Ray tomography. Additionally, Andor CB2 24B has been low-temperature qualified for operation down to -40°C ambient, perfect for observing in high altitude or harsh environments.

Dr. Colin Coates, Head of Product Management, stated:

“Delivering a high frame rate of 74 fps from the full 24.5 megapixel resolution, boosted to 283 fps with 2x2 on-chip binning, coupled with a long exposure capability by virtue of low darkcurrent and zero amplifier glow, the Andor CB2 24B is capable of detecting variability over a broad range of timescales. This makes it highly suitable to rapid applications such as ion flux microscopy, cell motility, ion-trap quantum computing, hyperspectral imaging, adaptive optics or speckle interferometry, through to long exposure applications such as in-vivo bioluminescence, gel documentation or cosmology.”

Andor CB2 24B was developed by First Light Imaging which joined Oxford Instruments Andor in January 2024, within the framework of a collaborative project with the Fresnel Institute (CNRS) and the Marseille Cancer Research Center (CRCM - INSERM). Led by First Light Imaging, the project included two industrial partners, Exavision (Equans group) and Photon Lines. Its primary goal was to deliver a state-of-the-art tool to the scientific community for cancer research, with a particular focus on leukaemia detection. The project was funded by the French Government, the Région Sud, and the Aix-Marseille Métropole, with additional support from Bpifrance and French competitiveness clusters (Aktantis, formerly SCS, Safe, and Eurobiomed).

Dr.Jean-Luc Gach, Chief Technologist and Founder of First Light Imaging, stated:

”For this project, we collaborated with university biology and cancer research laboratories to adapt for life sciences the cutting-edge technologies that we traditionally developed for astronomy, with the same goal: meeting needs that were unfulfilled by traditional cameras. The result offers ultra-high performance and unprecedented versatility, opening up possibilities which were previously out of reach in life sciences and other scientific disciplines. We are proud to support researchers with cutting-edge imaging solutions.”