How many photons are necessary for fluorescence-lifetime measurements?

✍ Scribed by Malte Köllner; Jürgen Wolfrum

• Book ID: 103034236
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 447 KB
• Volume: 200
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(92)87068-z

✦ Synopsis

On planning time-correlated single photon counting experiments for fluorescence-lifetime measurements with minute samples, the question of ultimate sensitivity arises. To answer this question, we will find out how many detected photons one needs to achieve a certain accuracy in the lifetime estimate. Using least-squares or maximum-likelihood procedures and the multinomird distribution, the accuracy of the lifetime estimation can be expressed explicitly as a function of the signal strength This allows one to determine the required number of detected photons.