Development of a Time-Integration Method for Analyzing the Photoresponse of Image Sensors: Theoretical and Experimental Verification with Digital Cameras

Abstract This study introduces a novel method for analyzing image sensors, supported by both theoretical and experimental verification. We first theoretically derived that when sinusoidal light with constant amplitude is directed onto an image sensor with fixed exposure times, the radiant energy reaching each pixel remains unchanged, irrespective of frequency fluctuations. However, when a rapid brightness variation significantly influences the photoresponse of the photodiodes in the image sensor, pixel values are expected to vary with frequency. To experimentally assess the photoresponse of image sensors, we developed a light-emitting diode (LED) light source capable of emitting sinusoidal waves up to 1 MHz, paired with a photosensor designed for this frequency range. We then exposed the image sensors of three cameras to the sinusoidal light and analyzed the frequency dependence of the pixel values. The experimental results demonstrated that the pixel values remained nearly constant (relative error of approximately 5 % or less) up to 1 MHz, showing no frequency dependence in the photoresponse within this range. These findings validate the theoretical analytical method and confirm that the image sensors of the three cameras accurately captured sinusoidal light up to 1 MHz without being influenced by the physical properties of the sensors or design parameters. However, this does not establish the limit or cutoff frequency of the image sensors.