The shape of the photon transfer curve of CCD sensors
Abstract
The photon transfer curve (PTC) of a CCD depicts the variance of uniform images as a function of their average. It is now well established that the variance is not proportional to the average, as Poisson statistics would indicate, but rather flattens out at high flux. This “variance deficit”, related to the brighter-fatter effect, feeds correlations between nearby pixels that increase with flux, and decay with distance. We propose an analytical expression for the PTC shape, and for the dependence of correlations with intensity, and relate both to some more basic quantities related to the electrostatics of the sensor, which are commonly used to correct science images for the brighter-fatter effect. We derive electrostatic constraints from a large set of flat field images acquired with a CCD e2v 250, and eventually question the generally-admitted assumption that boundaries of CCD pixels shift by amounts proportional to the source charges. Our results show that the departure of flat field statistics from the Poisson law is entirely compatible with charge redistribution during the drift in the sensor.
- Authors:
-
- Lab. de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies, Paris (France)
- Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Contributing Org.:
- The Dark Energy Science Collaboration
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1577585
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 629; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-6361
- Publisher:
- EDP Sciences
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astronomy & Astrophysics; Abstract; Full HTMLPDF; (1.501 MB); ePUB (10.37 MB); References; NASA ADS Abstract Service
Citation Formats
Astier, Pierre, Antilogus, Pierre, Juramy, Claire, Le Breton, Rémy, Le Guillou, Laurent, and Sepulveda, Eduardo. The shape of the photon transfer curve of CCD sensors. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935508.
Astier, Pierre, Antilogus, Pierre, Juramy, Claire, Le Breton, Rémy, Le Guillou, Laurent, & Sepulveda, Eduardo. The shape of the photon transfer curve of CCD sensors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935508
Astier, Pierre, Antilogus, Pierre, Juramy, Claire, Le Breton, Rémy, Le Guillou, Laurent, and Sepulveda, Eduardo. Mon .
"The shape of the photon transfer curve of CCD sensors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935508. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577585.
@article{osti_1577585,
title = {The shape of the photon transfer curve of CCD sensors},
author = {Astier, Pierre and Antilogus, Pierre and Juramy, Claire and Le Breton, Rémy and Le Guillou, Laurent and Sepulveda, Eduardo},
abstractNote = {The photon transfer curve (PTC) of a CCD depicts the variance of uniform images as a function of their average. It is now well established that the variance is not proportional to the average, as Poisson statistics would indicate, but rather flattens out at high flux. This “variance deficit”, related to the brighter-fatter effect, feeds correlations between nearby pixels that increase with flux, and decay with distance. We propose an analytical expression for the PTC shape, and for the dependence of correlations with intensity, and relate both to some more basic quantities related to the electrostatics of the sensor, which are commonly used to correct science images for the brighter-fatter effect. We derive electrostatic constraints from a large set of flat field images acquired with a CCD e2v 250, and eventually question the generally-admitted assumption that boundaries of CCD pixels shift by amounts proportional to the source charges. Our results show that the departure of flat field statistics from the Poisson law is entirely compatible with charge redistribution during the drift in the sensor.},
doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201935508},
journal = {Astronomy and Astrophysics},
number = ,
volume = 629,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {9}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
Brighter-fatter Effect in Near-infrared Detectors. I. Theory of Flat Autocorrelations
journal, December 2019
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Sensor Distortion Effects in Photon Monte Carlo Simulations
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Sensor Distortion Effects in Photon Monte Carlo Simulations
text, January 2020
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- arXiv