Frames per second (fps) is the rate at which consecutive
images are displayed. Because the human brain perceives a rapid succession of
still frames as motion, cameras with a higher fps produce smoother video. Until
recently, these so-called "fast cameras" were used mainly by scientists and the
television and movie industries. Thanks to the efforts of a European
consortium, however, fast cameras may have a brighter future in cellular imaging and
microarray scanning.
Developed by researchers from the U.K.'s National Physical
Laboratory (NPL), ST Microelectronics, the University of Edinburgh, and
TU Delft, the Megaframe Imager is an ultra-fast camera that records as many as one-million
frames per second. Measuring just a few millimeters (mm), it uses complementary
metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology to combine a super-sensitive
single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array with on-chip intelligence.
Already, researchers have used the Megaframe Imager
and fluorescence lifetime imaging to detect viral DNA binding events with a
data acquisition time of 30 seconds. Is this ultra-fast camera the next big
thing in biosensing?
Source: Photonics.com
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