Guest Column: Using A High-Line-Rate SWIR Line Scan Camera To Capture Fast-Changing Optical Light Variation

By Douglas Malchow, Sensors Unlimited – Goodrich ISR Systems

This article describes observations about office lighting that were discovered while investigating ways to illustrate the speed of a new high-speed, indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) line scan camera (SU1024LDH2). The camera’s 11 microsecond (µs) time resolution captured arcing in the magnetic ballast of overhead fluorescent lamps, but only on alternate phases of the power cycle. The light fixture was later changed from the magnetic ballast to a high-frequency electronic ballast, which eliminated the arcing and reduced the light variation. The images taken with the SU1024LDH2 camera will illustrate our findings.