Analysis of a blackbody irradiance method of measurement of solar blind UV cameras' sensitivity

Abstract

This paper presents a critical analysis of a current typical method to measure sensitivity of solar blind ultraviolet cameras using a high temperature blackbody as a calibrated source of ultraviolet light. It has been shown that measurement of sensitivity of solar-blind ultraviolet (SBUV) cameras defined as minimal detectable blackbody irradiance at optics plane of the tested SBUV camera generates inflated, misleading and prone to measurement errors' results that should not be used for evaluation of SBUV cameras' performance.

Opto-Electronics Review

“…There are various types of sources that are proposed for the calibration of SBUV cameras such as Blackbody radiators, deuterium lamps, laser, electrical discharge, and specially adapted LED sources [20,21] SBUV cameras have different output responses to each of these sources, which are attributed to the difference between the spectrum of the source and the cameras themselves. The methods and proposals to solve the spectral mismatching will be discussed in the future as an additional step to improve accuracy.…”

Opto-Electronics Review

“…However, despite its obvious importance, this parameter is not presented in data sheets of typical SBUV cameras [1][2][3][4][5][6]. More importantly, the available scientific papers devoted to the characteristics of SBUV cameras did not present any concept on how to measure this parameter [7][8][9][10][11]. In such a situation this paper presents the concept (definition, measurement method, test equipment, interpretation of results) of measuring solar sensitivity of SBUV cameras.…”