Power-conserving clocking for scanning sensors

An imaging system, comprising:

• an illumination source configured to generate an illumination beam;
• a sample translation device configured translate a target object along a scan direction;
• a set of illumination optics configured to direct the illumination beam to the target object disposed on the sample translation device;
• a time delay and integration detector, the detector comprising:
• an array of pixels distributed in the scan direction and a line direction perpendicular to the scan direction;
• and
• a clock generator configured to generate clocking signals to transfer charge along the scan direction between two or more pixel groups adjacent in the scan direction, wherein a pixel group of the pixel groups includes two or more pixels adjacent in the scan direction, wherein the clocking signals include phase signals to drive gates of the two or more pixel groups, wherein the clocking signals generate a common potential well per pixel group for containing charge generated in response to incident illumination from the target object, wherein the clocking signals transfer the charge to an adjacent pixel group along the scan direction at a rate corresponding to a velocity of the target object;
• a set of collection optics configured to generate an image of the target object on the detector in response to the incident illumination from the target object;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to the detector and the sample translation device, the controller including one or more processors configured to execute instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to synchronize the transfer of charge along the scan direction in the detector with motion of the target object along the scan direction.