A Mega-fps EMCCD camera

Cameras with high frame-rate and high light sensitivity are necessary for numerous fields, including biology and quantum optics. In practice, one typically has to choose between high quantum efficiency or high frame-rate. We present a new EMCCD imaging technique that can capture videos at 3.3 Mfps with single photon sensitivity. By multiplexing spatial and time dimensions via a tilted microlens-array, we enhance the frame rate of commercial state-of-the-art EMCCD sensors while maintaining their high signal-to-noise-ratio. Interlacing imaging and storage pixels on the sensor and exposing during frame-transfer, we can increase the frame rate up the line transfer rate of the camera. Our system maintains 50% contrast for intensity modulation up to 1.6 MHz. To benchmark video performance, we image beams deflected at high speed using AOMs in one and two spatial dimensions. Our approach is compatible with off-the-shelf EMCCD cameras and lenslet arrays, opening a new route to ultra-fast imaging at single-photon sensitivity, which could benefit optical readout in various platforms, including optical tweezers, ion traps, and cavity QED. Our approach can also be applied to measure time-resolved high-order correlation functions for long-lived single-photon emitters.