Application of an Event-Based Camera for Real-Time Velocity Resolved Kinetics

Area of Science:

• Physical Chemistry
• Surface Science
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Studying real-time velocity-resolved kinetics of thermal desorption is crucial for understanding surface processes.
• Conventional ion imaging experiments using framing cameras face significant data transfer and storage challenges at high repetition rates.
• High data rates (up to 16 GB/s) and limited memory capacity restrict continuous measurements to a few seconds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the application of an inexpensive event-based/neuromorphic camera in ion imaging experiments.
• To enable real-time, velocity-resolved kinetic studies of thermal desorption at high detection rates (1 kHz).
• To overcome the data acquisition bottlenecks associated with conventional framing cameras.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an event-based/neuromorphic camera for ion imaging.
• Employed a single gas pulse to initiate time-dependent desorption.
• Used a high repetition rate laser (1 kHz) to generate ion images sequentially.

Main Results:

• The event-based camera dramatically reduced data rates by processing only pixels with ion events.
• Data stream reduced to intensity, location, and time-stamp of ion events.
• Significantly increased the duty cycle of the ion imaging method.

Conclusions:

• Neuromorphic cameras offer a cost-effective solution for high-repetition-rate ion imaging experiments.
• This approach overcomes data acquisition limitations, enabling extended real-time kinetic studies.
• Provides valuable insights for optimizing other high-repetition-rate ion imaging techniques.