Ultra Storage-Efficient Time Digitizer for Pseudorandom Single Photon Counter Implemented on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (original) (raw)
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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.
Commercial and Biomedical Applications of Ultrafast Lasers IV, 2004
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.
Photon-Counting Arrays for Time-Resolved Imaging
Sensors, 2016
The paper presents a camera comprising 512ˆ128 pixels capable of single-photon detection and gating with a maximum frame rate of 156 kfps. The photon capture is performed through a gated single-photon avalanche diode that generates a digital pulse upon photon detection and through a digital one-bit counter. Gray levels are obtained through multiple counting and accumulation, while time-resolved imaging is achieved through a 4-ns gating window controlled with subnanosecond accuracy by a field-programmable gate array. The sensor, which is equipped with microlenses to enhance its effective fill factor, was electro-optically characterized in terms of sensitivity and uniformity. Several examples of capture of fast events are shown to demonstrate the suitability of the approach.
Journal of Modern Optics, 2009
We test the performances of an imaging system in revealing either opaque, light diffusing, or transparent objects embedded in tissue phantoms. The method relies on measuring the time-of-flight distributions of near-infrared photons emerging from the phantom within a collection angle of 0.6 mrad about the direction of the incident light by means of a time-correlated single-photon counting apparatus. The apparatus is based on new generation single photon avalanche photodiodes, which are endowed with 35 ps resolution, low dark-count rate, short dead time and relatively high quantum efficiency in the near-infrared. The weakly-scattered (ballistic/snake) photons, bringing the relevant image information, are efficiently discriminated from the multiply scattered ones. Thus, the profiles of the embedded objects can be reconstructed and their nature can be assessed. Opaque objects are localized with 220 mm spatial resolution. The potential of the new detectors in medical imaging applications is discussed.
Time-resolved photon counting with digital oscilloscope
Measurement Science and Technology, 1997
Photon counting by means of a digital oscilloscope controlled by a computer is presented. For many applications this system can replace commercially available gated or multichannel photon counters.
Evaluation of the imaging properties of a direct detection single photon counting based system
2001
We have tested the imaging properties of a system based on a GaAs matrix that performs the direct detection of photons in the range of radiographic interest. The detector is bump-bonded to a VLSI single photon counting electronics. The imaging properties of the system have been evaluated in terms of the presampling MTF and the DQE(n), that allow an absolute characterization of imaging properties of digital systems. We have tested other radiographic imaging systems in standard clinical conditions, using the same functions and we have compared them with the GaAs matrix system. #
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.
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).