PCO Imaging

PCO Imaging (PCO AG) is a developer and manufacturer of camera systems for scientific and industrial applications.[1][2][3]

PCO Imaging
TypeAktiengesellschaft
Founded1987
FounderEmil Ott
HeadquartersKelheim, Germany, subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Singapore, China
Area served
worldwide
Productsscientific camera systems
Websitewww.pco.de

History

The company was founded in 1987 by Emil Ott, who worked as a researcher for the Technical University of Munich. During the conducting of scientific measurements with intensified slow scan cameras he was convinced of the fact that the existing camera standard did not meet the requirements of scientific applications. Therefore he founded PCO (Pioneers in Cameras and Optoelectronics) to improve the technology of the existing camera systems.[4][5][6] The developed technologies of PCO are since then used for DNA sequencing, machine vision, solar cell quality control, measuring velocity and surveillance alongside to microscopy and further applications.[7][8][9]

Products
STS-135 last Space Shuttle liftoff in slow motion

The company designs, manufactures and distributes scientific imaging devices equipped with scientific complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (sCMOS), complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) and charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor technology.[10] In 2016, the company introduced the first luminescence lifetime imaging camera based on a high frequency modulated CMOS image sensor which is called pco.flim. The pco.flim CMOS camera can be used for a vast variety of biomedical applications that require a large frame and high-speed acquisition.[11][12]

The new technology for sCMOS (scientific CMOS) image sensors was launched in 2009 during the Laser World of Photonics fair in Munich as Joint Venture from PCO with the companies Andor Technology and Fairchild Camera and Instrument.[13] In general, CCD-based cameras offer high sensitivity but slow sampling speeds. Conventional CMOS cameras offer very fast frame rates but compromise dynamic range. sCMOS image sensors, on the other hand, offer extremely low noise, rapid frame rates, wide dynamic range, high quantum efficiency, high resolution, and a large field of view simultaneously in one image. This makes them particularly suitable for high fidelity, quantitative scientific measurement and low-light-level conditions.[14]

pco.panda 4.2 - 16 bit sCMOS compact camera

References
  1. mittelbayerische.de. "PCO-Hightech überzeugt sogar die Nasa". Mittelbayerische Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  2. "Der Zeitzerkleinerer - brand eins online". www.brandeins.de. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  3. mittelbayerische.de. "Auszeichnung für Hightech aus Kelheim". Mittelbayerische Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  4. mittelbayerische.de. "Auszeichnung für Hightech aus Kelheim". Mittelbayerische Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  5. Aus Dr. Otts Idee wurde Erfolgsfirma, Elfi Bachmeier-Fausten, German, Mittelbayerische Zeitung, accessed on June 5, 2018
  6. Sun, Da-Wen (2010-06-29). Hyperspectral Imaging for Food Quality Analysis and Control. Elsevier. ISBN 9780080886282.
  7. Modulated CMOS camera for fluorescence lifetime microscopy, Vladimir V. Leschevich, Oleg. G. Penayzkov, Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, Taipei, Taiwan, August 2, 2013, accessed on May 27, 2018.
  8. sCMOS Cameras Take the Scientific Imaging Stage, Chen, Hongtao; Holst, Gerhard; Gratton, Enrico , Novus Light Technologies Today, May 7, 2018, accessed on May 27, 2018.
  9. "Camera Link HS camera from PCO to be highlighted at VISION 2016". www.vision-systems.com. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  10. Schneller als der Massenmarkt, Marion Koller, German, Mittelbayerische Zeitung, May 18, 2018, accessed on June 5, 2018.
  11. Modulated CMOS camera for fluorescence lifetime microscopy, Chen, Hongtao; Holst, Gerhard; Gratton, Enrico , Wiley Online Library, accessed on May 27, 2018.
  12. pco.panda 4.2 back illuminated (bi), a state-of-the-art sCMOS camera, Optic.org, February 22, 2018, accessed on May 27, 2018.
  13. [https://application.wiley-vch.de/berlin/journals/op/09-03/OP0903_S37-S39.pdf sCMOS – Die eierlegende Wollmilchsau der Bildsensorik?], German, Wiley-VCH, 2009
  14. Scientific CMOS (sCMOS) Technology: An Overview, PhotonicsOnline, Ron Grunsby, June 18, 2012, accessed on September 18, 2018
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