Oxford Instruments announces the expansion of the Andor CB2 Series – a high speed, low noise sCMOS camera platform, designed to meet the needs of customers across the ultraviolet to the visible spectrum.
The CB2 Series now integrates five sensors, offering flexibility in speed, pixel size, and resolution, while benefiting from Sony’s CMOS technology such as global shutter and low readout noise.
Drawing on decades of heritage in the astronomy and life science domains, the Andor CB2 Series started with the launch of the CB2 24B (high resolution) in January 2025. The Series now expands with the CB2 High Speed and CB2 UV.
The CB2 High Speed consists of three sensors from the Sony Pregius family. Designed for high speed, CB2 maximises the performance of the sensor, achieving unmatched frame rates up to 1,594 frames per second. Covering the visible range (400 – 1,000 nanometers (nm)) of the light spectrum, CB2 High Speed comes with three resolutions: 0.5 megapixels (MP), 1.7MP and 7.1MP and pixel sizes between 4.5 and nine micrometers (µm). These sensors include a set of features made for high-speed imaging, including a global shutter to avoid any spatial distortions, low noise down to 1.4 e- and even a multi-ROI (Region of Interest) mode to achieve even greater speeds. The CB2 High Speed is the perfect imaging tool for scientists who undertake speed-critical experiments in astronomy such as adaptive optics, especially laser guide stars and lucky imaging, but also in other fields such as quantum computing or microfluidics.
The CB2 UV is a camera designed for those working in ultraviolet (200-400nm), where imaging options are limited. The camera integrates the latest generation of Sony Pregius S sensors. The 8.1MP sensor, with a 2.74µm pixel size, achieves great sensitivity in UV thanks to its back-illuminated structure. It can reach a quantum efficiency of 50% at 300nm and more than 30% at 200nm.
The CB2 UV offers users versatility via several notable features. On one hand, the sensor comes with an extremely low dark current down to 0.0001 e-/p/s (at -20°C) and very low amplifier glow, for long integration times. On the other hand, those who need speed will appreciate its 191 FPS at full resolution and the on-chip binning capability, which is a novelty in the CMOS world. With on-chip binning, the combination of pixels allows even higher speed to enhance the signal to noise ratio (SNR). This makes the CB2 UV a powerful solution for quality control of minute details in the semiconductor industry, for astronomy to study UV-shifted astronomical objects, or even for combustion, enabling the quantitative measurement of OH chemiluminescence.
The CB2 series offers CXP and GigE interfaces to facilitate its integration in most scientific systems. Compact, it has been successfully tested in harsh environments from –40 to 60°C. The CB2 Series is a multipurpose camera and without any doubt a strong ally for the most demanding experiments.
Dr. François Yaya, Product Manager for Physical Sciences, Oxford Instruments Imaging & Analysis, stated: “We’ve created the CB2 Series in response to valuable feedback from our customers. Using the great sensors from Sony, scientists will be able to choose the sensor they need for their experiments. This sensor can be integrated in a single camera engineered to operate in various conditions and setups from the industry to research.”
Dr Rémy Charavel, CEO of CERCO, stated: “I recently had the opportunity to test the CB2 UV from the CB2 Series to perform remote sulphur dioxide UV imaging in an industrial environment. I was impressed by the resolution of the camera both in UV and visible light. The sensitivity at 310nm was outstanding, allowing a short exposure time even with a 10nm narrow band pass filter. The graphical user interface and software are very intuitive, making even occasional use very user friendly.”
