Mao Nakajima headed up the team behind the hugely respected ORCA®-Quest qCMOS® Camera, which accurately measures the number of photons and performs imaging under extremely low noise conditions.
As Nakajima explained: “Strictly speaking, measurement at the individual photon level has not been possible. With this camera, we succeeded in reducing noise to the utmost limit and accurately counting the number of photons. That is a huge difference from conventional sensors.”
Of course, Hamamatsu has been pioneering cameras for weak light measurement for 30 years, but this one is a gamechanger. Having got this launch off the ground, the graduate of Shizuoka University isn’t giving up on the ambition of further reducing noise and admits there is still lots of room for improvement in quantum efficiency. It’s no exaggeration to say that Mao’s launch, working with project manager Kunihiko Tsuchiya and designers Takuo Kameyama and Masaya Kyoguko, is one of the most impressive of the past 18 months.
Organisation: Hamamatsu
Role: Project Manager, Scientific Imaging Department, Systems Division
Based in: Japan
Education: Shizuoka University