A note on luminance calibration of raster-scan cathode-ray tubes: temporal resolution, ripple, and accuracy

Abstract

Accurate luminance calibration is an important issue for stimuli in vision research. Raster-scan cathode-ray tubes present a rapidly scanning spot with a luminance of the order of 10,000 cd m-2 (the actual value depends on video timing and phosphor persistence). With little spatial integration this may result in overloading of the front stage of a photometer. More importantly, even if averaged over hundreds of milliseconds, the pulsed nature of the luminance signal will markedly reduce accuracy of the luminance measurement. A frame-synchronised photometer is described to increase measurement accuracy whilst still rapidly acquiring the result.