MAGING SYSTEMS/VISION SYSTEMS
The Cooke Corporation (Tonawanda, NY) introduced its DiCam-PRO 12-bit intensified digital imaging system in March 1998 to give researchers the ability to image very fast phenomena in various environments. The primary uniqueness of this imaging system lies in the fact that it is the first intensified CCD camera system that can achieve a gating--or exposure--time of 1.5 ns with a 1280 ¥ 1024 CCD format. The short exposure time coupled with light intensification capability allows researchers to study events that are extremely short in duration and that exhibit both low- and high-light-level characteristics. Light sources such as pulsed lasers can be synchronized with the DiCam-PRO to image the dynamics of events ranging from ballistics to hypervelocity flows or laser-induced fluorescence. In combination with interferometric techniques, the imaging system can be used to understand the strain properties of semiconductor materials during the manufacturing process. The system package incorporates all necessary optical and electrical accessories in one housing, thus providing a portable and easy-to-use tool suitable for outdoor or remote-testing applications.