Design and development of a fNIRS system prototype based on SiPM detectors

Sanfilippo, D.; Valvo, G.; Mazzillo, M.; Piana, A.; Carbone, B.; Renna, L.; Fallica, P. G.; Agrò, Diego; Morsellino, Giuseppe; Pinto, M.; Canicattì, R; Galioto, Natale; Tomasino, Alessandro; Adamo, Gabriele; Stivala, Salvatore; Parisi, Antonino; Curcio, Luciano; Giaconia, C.; Busacca, Alessandro; Pagano, Roberto; Libertino, Sebania; Lombardo, S.

doi:10.1117/12.2037559

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Because of the previous advantages, during the last two years the diffuse optics community started to consider SiPMs to build Continuous-Wave (CW) prototypes for functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) [18,19]. On the other side, despite the great attractiveness of SiPMs, their use in Time Domain (TD) diffuse optics is still largely unexplored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast silicon photomultiplier improves signal harvesting and reduces complexity in time-domain diffuse optics

Mora¹,

Martinenghi²,

Contini³

et al. 2015

Opt. Express

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Abstract:We present a proof of concept prototype of a time-domain diffuse optics probe exploiting a fast Silicon PhotoMultiplier (SiPM), featuring a timing resolution better than 80 ps, a fast tail with just 90 ps decay time-constant and a wide active area of 1 mm 2 . The detector is hosted into the probe and used in direct contact with the sample under investigation, thus providing high harvesting efficiency by exploiting the whole SiPM numerical aperture and also reducing complexity by avoiding the use of cumbersome fiber bundles. Our tests also demonstrate high accuracy and linearity in retrieving the optical properties and suitable contrast and depth sensitivity for detecting localized inhomogeneities. In addition to a strong improvement in both instrumentation cost and size with respect to legacy solutions, the setup performances are comparable to those of state-of-the-art time-domain instrumentation, thus opening a new way to compact, low-cost and high-performance time-resolved devices for diffuse optical imaging and spectroscopy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast silicon photomultiplier improves signal harvesting and reduces complexity in time-domain diffuse optics

Mora¹,

Martinenghi²,

Contini³

et al. 2015

Opt. Express

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show abstract

“…Notice that, although proof-of-concept of SiPM-based CW-fNIRS systems was provided before, 34,36,55 to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a multichannel, source time-multiplexed, SiPM-based CW-fNIRS system employed for an actual in vivo hemodynamic brain activity measurements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…However, photodiodes sensitivity and dynamic range are poor and, considering that light decays in tissue ∼1 decade∕cm, wearable systems are generally limited to a few sparse optodes at fixed source-detector distances. [29][30][31] Highly sensitive semiconductor light detectors, such as SiPM, 55 directly located on the scalp, could be suitable for future high-density, accurate and lightweight, fNIRS systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of a fiber-less, multichannel optical probe for continuous wave functional near-infrared spectroscopy based on silicon photomultipliers detectors: in-vivo assessment of primary sensorimotor response

et al. 2017

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We report development, testing, and characterization of a multichannel optical probe for continuous wave (CW) functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) that relies on silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) detectors. SiPMs are cheap, low voltage, and robust semiconductor light detectors with performances analogous to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). In contrast with PMTs, SiPMs allow direct contact with the head and transfer of the analog signals through thin cables greatly increasing the system flexibility avoiding optical fibers. The coupling of SiPMs and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) made the optical probe lightweight and robust against motion artifacts. After characterization of SiPM performances, which was proven to provide a noise equivalent power below 3 fW, the apparatus was compared through an experiment to a commercial system relying on laser diodes, PMTs, and optical fibers for light probing and detection. The optical probes were located over the primary sensorimotor cortex and the similarities between the hemodynamic responses to the contralateral motor task were assessed. When compared to other state-of-the-art wearable fNIRS systems, where photodiode detectors are employed, the single photon sensitivity and dynamic range of SiPMs can fully exploit the long and variable interoptode distances needed for correct estimation of brain hemodynamics using CW-fNIRS.

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“…135 However, those effects are mainly due to the parasitic capacitance of the resistor terminal, 121 which is almost negligible when the resistor is integrated. [141][142][143] Indeed, during the last 3 years, SiPM started to be considered for CW diffuse optics prototypes 144,145 and last year, their use was also demonstrated in the TD regime, 146 mainly due to a targeted selection of high-performance devices and to the development of a compact and suitable electronic solution to maximize the timing resolution. 136,137 SiPMs were originally developed as photon-number resolving detectors exploiting their parallel structure that allows outputting a voltage pulse almost proportional to the number of photons simultaneously impinging onto the detector.…”

Section: Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New frontiers in time-domain diffuse optics, a review

et al. 2016

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The recent developments in time-domain diffuse optics that rely on physical concepts (e.g., time-gating and null distance) and advanced photonic components (e.g., vertical cavity source-emitting laser as light sources, single photon avalanche diode, and silicon photomultipliers as detectors, fast-gating circuits, and time-to-digital converters for acquisition) are focused. This study shows how these tools could lead on one hand to compact and wearable time-domain devices for point-of-care diagnostics down to the consumer level and on the other hand to powerful systems with exceptional depth penetration and sensitivity.

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Design and development of a fNIRS system prototype based on SiPM detectors

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

Fast silicon photomultiplier improves signal harvesting and reduces complexity in time-domain diffuse optics

Fast silicon photomultiplier improves signal harvesting and reduces complexity in time-domain diffuse optics

Characterization of a fiber-less, multichannel optical probe for continuous wave functional near-infrared spectroscopy based on silicon photomultipliers detectors: in-vivo assessment of primary sensorimotor response

New frontiers in time-domain diffuse optics, a review

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