An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopy

Abstract Measurements in general are limited in accuracy by the presence of noise. This also holds true for highly sophisticated scintillation-based CCD cameras, as they are used in medical applications, astronomy or transmission electron microscopy. Further, signals measured with pixelated detector...

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Main Authors: Christian Zietlow, Jörg K. N. Lindner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85982-4
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author Christian Zietlow
Jörg K. N. Lindner
author_facet Christian Zietlow
Jörg K. N. Lindner
author_sort Christian Zietlow
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Measurements in general are limited in accuracy by the presence of noise. This also holds true for highly sophisticated scintillation-based CCD cameras, as they are used in medical applications, astronomy or transmission electron microscopy. Further, signals measured with pixelated detectors are convolved with the inherent detector point spread function. The Poisson noise, arising from the quantized nature of the beam electrons, gets correlated by this convolution, which allows to reconstruct the detector PSF based on the Wiener–Khinchin theorem and the Pearson correlation coefficients under homogeneous illumination conditions. However, correlation also has a strong impact on the noise statistics of basic operations like the binning of signals, as it is usually done in electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Thus, this paper aims to give an insight into the different noise contributions occurring on such detectors, into their underlying statistics and their correlation. Detectors usually suffer from gain non-linearities and quantum efficiency deviations, which must be corrected for optimal results. All these operations influence the noise and are influenced by it, vice versa. In this work, we mathematically describe all these changes and show them experimentally. Methods on how to measure individual noise and correlation parameters are described allowing readers to implement routines for finding them. Sufficient knowledge on the noise of a measurement is not only crucial for classifying its quality and meaningfulness, but also allows for better post-processing operations like deconvolution, which is a common practice in spectroscopy to enhance signals.
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spelling doaj-art-28c1f335c64a46c69ca3a8c45fd47e822025-02-02T12:24:16ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-0115113810.1038/s41598-025-85982-4An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopyChristian Zietlow0Jörg K. N. Lindner1Nanopatterning-Nanoanalysis-Photonic Materials Group, Department of Physics, Paderborn UniversityNanopatterning-Nanoanalysis-Photonic Materials Group, Department of Physics, Paderborn UniversityAbstract Measurements in general are limited in accuracy by the presence of noise. This also holds true for highly sophisticated scintillation-based CCD cameras, as they are used in medical applications, astronomy or transmission electron microscopy. Further, signals measured with pixelated detectors are convolved with the inherent detector point spread function. The Poisson noise, arising from the quantized nature of the beam electrons, gets correlated by this convolution, which allows to reconstruct the detector PSF based on the Wiener–Khinchin theorem and the Pearson correlation coefficients under homogeneous illumination conditions. However, correlation also has a strong impact on the noise statistics of basic operations like the binning of signals, as it is usually done in electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Thus, this paper aims to give an insight into the different noise contributions occurring on such detectors, into their underlying statistics and their correlation. Detectors usually suffer from gain non-linearities and quantum efficiency deviations, which must be corrected for optimal results. All these operations influence the noise and are influenced by it, vice versa. In this work, we mathematically describe all these changes and show them experimentally. Methods on how to measure individual noise and correlation parameters are described allowing readers to implement routines for finding them. Sufficient knowledge on the noise of a measurement is not only crucial for classifying its quality and meaningfulness, but also allows for better post-processing operations like deconvolution, which is a common practice in spectroscopy to enhance signals.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85982-4Noise modelScintillation detectorElectron microscopyNon-linearity correctionBrighter-fatter effectPoint spread function
spellingShingle Christian Zietlow
Jörg K. N. Lindner
An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopy
Scientific Reports
Noise model
Scintillation detector
Electron microscopy
Non-linearity correction
Brighter-fatter effect
Point spread function
title An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopy
title_full An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopy
title_fullStr An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopy
title_full_unstemmed An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopy
title_short An applied noise model for scintillation-based CCD detectors in transmission electron microscopy
title_sort applied noise model for scintillation based ccd detectors in transmission electron microscopy
topic Noise model
Scintillation detector
Electron microscopy
Non-linearity correction
Brighter-fatter effect
Point spread function
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85982-4
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