Photon counting imaging with an electron-bombarded CCD: towards wide-field time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Photon counting imaging with an electron-bombarded CCD

T2 - towards wide-field time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC)

AU - Hirvonen, Liisa

AU - Jiggins, Stephen

AU - Sergent, Nicolas

AU - Zanda, Gianmarco

AU - Suhling, Klaus

PY - 2015/7/1

Y1 - 2015/7/1

N2 - Single photon detecting capabilities of an electron-bombarded CCD (EBCCD), where a photon is converted into a photoelectron that is accelerated through a high voltage before hitting the CCD chip, were characterised. The photon event pulse height distribution was found to be linearly dependent on the gain voltage. Based on these results, we propose that a gain voltage sweep during exposure in an EBCCD or EBCMOS camera would allow photon arrival time determination from the photon event pulse height with sub-frame exposure time resolution. This effectively uses an electron-bombarded sensor as a parallel-processing photoelectronic time-to-amplitude converter (TAC), or a 2-dimensional streak camera. Several applications that require timing of photon arrival, including fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), may benefit from this approach. Moreover, the EBCCD was used on a fluorescence microscope to image fluorescently labelled cells in single photon counting mode.

AB - Single photon detecting capabilities of an electron-bombarded CCD (EBCCD), where a photon is converted into a photoelectron that is accelerated through a high voltage before hitting the CCD chip, were characterised. The photon event pulse height distribution was found to be linearly dependent on the gain voltage. Based on these results, we propose that a gain voltage sweep during exposure in an EBCCD or EBCMOS camera would allow photon arrival time determination from the photon event pulse height with sub-frame exposure time resolution. This effectively uses an electron-bombarded sensor as a parallel-processing photoelectronic time-to-amplitude converter (TAC), or a 2-dimensional streak camera. Several applications that require timing of photon arrival, including fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), may benefit from this approach. Moreover, the EBCCD was used on a fluorescence microscope to image fluorescently labelled cells in single photon counting mode.

U2 - 10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.031

DO - 10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.031

M3 - Conference paper

SN - 0168-9002

VL - 787

SP - 323

EP - 327

JO - Nuclear Instruments & Methods In Physics Research Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors And Associated Equipment

JF - Nuclear Instruments & Methods In Physics Research Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors And Associated Equipment

ER -