Time Correlated Single-Photon Counting (Tcspc) Using Laser Excitation (original) (raw)
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Advanced Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting Techniques
Journal of Microscopy, 2006
Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is based on the detection of single photons of a periodic light signal, measurement of the detection time of the photons, and the build-up of the photon distribution versus the time in the signal period. TCSPC achieves a near ideal counting efficiency and transit-time-spread-limited time resolution for a given detector. The drawback of traditional TCSPC is the low count rate, long acquisition time, and the fact that the technique is one-dimensional, i.e. limited to the recording of the pulse shape of light signals. We present an advanced TCSPC technique featuring multi-dimensional photon acquisition and a count rate close to the capability of currently available detectors. The technique is able to acquire photon distributions versus wavelength, spatial coordinates, and the time on the ps scale, and to record fast changes in the fluorescence lifetime and fluorescence intensity of a sample. Biomedical applications of advanced TCSPC techniques are time-domain optical tomography, recording of transient phenomena in biological systems, spectrally resolved fluorescence lifetime imaging, FRET experiments in living cells, and the investigation of dye-protein complexes by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. We demonstrate the potential of the technique for selected applications.
Recent advances in time-correlated single-photon counting
Single Molecule Spectroscopy and Imaging, 2008
We report about the time-resolved confocal fluorescence microscope MicroTime 200, which is completely based on TTTR format data acquisition and enables to perform very advanced FCS, FRET and FLIM analysis such as Fluorescence Lifetime Correlation Spectroscopy (FLCS) or Two Focus FCS (2fFCS).
Supplementary document for Time-magnified photon counting with a 550-fs resolution - 5328772.pdf
2021
This document provides supplementary information to "Time-magnified photon counting with a 550-fs resolution," https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.420816\. It consists of four sections: 1. TM-TCSPC schematic diagram; 2. Resolving sub-ps pulsewidth change with TM-TCSPC; 3. ToF image and signal processing; and 4. Photon pileup effect. 1. TM-TCSPC schematic diagram Fig. S1. The schematic diagram for the TM-TCSPC. SUT, signal under test; SPAD, single-photon avalanche diodes.
Pulse (photon) counting: determination of optimum measurement system parameters
Analytical Chemistry, 1979
Linearity measurements and integral pulse height distributions have been used to evaluate the effects of electron multiplier voltage and discriminator coefficient (A d) on the stability, sensitlvity, and dynamic range of three pulse counting measurement systems. The data show that selection of the highest possible voltage has significant advantages for most experiments, but that the choice of an "optimum" value for A d depends on the requirements of the particular experiment and requires careful evaluation of the trade-offs among stability, sensitivity, and dynamic range. Semiquantitative evaluation of these trade-offs on the basis of the experimental results Is Illustrated. The data also show clearly that measurements such as those reported here must be made on each system, since specific results for one system cannot be generalized to others. Electron multipliers are widely used as particle flux transducers, whether incorporated into a photomultiplier
Photon counting detectors for future laser time transfer missions
2008
We are reporting on research, development and indoor tests of the photon counting detectors that are being developed in our lab for future space missions related to precise time transfer by laser pulses. The detectors are optimized for an on-board detection and precision time tagging of an incoming laser pulse. The key parameters of the detectors are: detection delay stability, broad operation temperature range, capability to operate under high background photon flux, radiation tolerance, mass and power consumption and overall ruggedness. The timing resolution, detection quantum efficiency and the dark count rate are of lower importance. The most challenging requirements are the detection delay stability of the order of units to tens of picoseconds within the temperature range of -30 to +50 C and the detection delay stability under the conditions of extremely high background photon flux well exceeding 10 8 photons per second hitting the detector active area. The detectors are based on the K14 SPAD chips. The new active quenching and gating electronics has been developed, it enables the operation in both gated and non gated modes. In a gated mode the detector is capable to operatedetect individual photonsunder the condition of background photon flux exceeding 10 9 (!) photons per second.
Recent advances in time-correlated single-photon counting
Proceedings of SPIE, 2008
We re about the time-resolved confocal fluorescence microscope MicroTime 200, which is completely based on TTTR format data acquisition and enables to perform very advanced FCS, FRET and FLIM analysis such as Fluorescence Lifetime Correlation Spectroscopy (FLCS) or Two Focus FCS (2fFCS). FLCS is a fundamental improvement of standard FCS overcoming many of its inherent limitations. The basic idea of FLCS is a weighting of the detected photons based on the additional picosecond timing information (TCSPC start-stop time) when using pulsed laser excitation. 2fFCS goes even further, combining Pulsed Interleaved Excitation (PIE) with a time-gated FCS analysis. The basic implementation of 2fFCS uses two synchronized but interleaved pulsed lasers of the same wavelength but of different polarisation to generate two close by excitation foci in a predetermined distance acting as a submicron ruler. In this case it it no longer necessary to have prior knowledge about the size and shape of the confocal volume. Maintaining the information about the photon's origin, the dual focus data allows a precise calculation of absolute diffusion coefficients.
Review of Scientific Instruments, 2017
In this paper, we describe a novel solution to increase the speed of Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) measurements by almost an order of magnitude while providing, in principle, zero distortion regardless of the experimental conditions. Typically, the relatively long dead time associated with the conversion electronics requires a proper tune of the excitation power in order to avoid distortions of the reconstructed waveform due to pileup and counting loss. As a result, the maximum operating rate of a TCSPC channel is now limited between 1% and 5% of the excitation frequency, thus leading to relatively long acquisition times. We show that negligible distortion (below 1%) is guaranteed if the dead time associated with the converter is kept below the dead time of the detector, and at the same time the detector dead time is matched to the duration of the excitation period. In this way, unprecedented high-speed operation is possible. In this paper, we provide a theoretical analysis of the technique, including the main non-idealities which are introduced by a generic physical implementation. The results are supported by both numerical simulations and analytical calculations.
utocorrelation Measurements of icosecond Laser Pulses
Completely general and novel expressions are presented for n th-order fast or slow correlation functions, with or without background contributions, from which more specialized nth-and second-order autocorrelation functions are derived. A straightforward method for obtaining CW autocorrelation measurements of picosecond pulses is then described which employs an audio loudspeaker driven at 30 Hz in one arm of the correlator to permit autocorrelation display at this frequency. Results of the application of this device to measurements of the picosecond pulses from a CW synchronously mode-locked Rhodamine 6G dye laser are presented.