Improving the counting efficiency in time-correlated single photon counting experiments by dead-time optimization

Peronio, Pietro; Acconcia, Giulia; Rech, Ivan; Ghioni, M.

doi:10.1063/1.4934812

Cited by 40 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In order to gather measurements done with different channels (SPAD + TAC), a calibration procedure is mandatory to compensate for mismatches, i.e., offsets and mean bin widths of the TCSPC chains are slightly different. We employed an offline calibration, done by software on the recorded events, based on the algorithm proposed by Peronio et al 15 We tested the validity of the calibration procedure by acquiring the instrument response function (IRF) of the system for all the 32 detectors. The laser source integrated in the SP8-X is a supercontinuum laser by NKT that was tuned at 488 nm with a repetition rate of 40 MHz and the full-scale range of the TACs was set to 25 ns accordingly.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

32-channel time-correlated-single-photon-counting system for high-throughput lifetime imaging

Peronio

Labanca

Acconcia

et al. 2017

Review of Scientific Instruments

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Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) is a very efficient technique for measuring weak and fast optical signals, but it is mainly limited by the relatively "long" measurement time. Multichannel systems have been developed in recent years aiming to overcome this limitation by managing several detectors or TCSPC devices in parallel. Nevertheless, if we look at state-of-the-art systems, there is still a strong trade-off between the parallelism level and performance: the higher the number of channels, the poorer the performance. In 2013, we presented a complete and compact 32 × 1 TCSPC system, composed of an array of 32 single-photon avalanche diodes connected to 32 time-to-amplitude converters, which showed that it was possible to overcome the existing trade-off. In this paper, we present an evolution of the previous work that is conceived for high-throughput fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. This application can be addressed by the new system thanks to a centralized logic, fast data management and an interface to a microscope. The new conceived hardware structure is presented, as well as the firmware developed to manage the operation of the module. Finally, preliminary results, obtained from the practical application of the technology, are shown to validate the developed system.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

32-channel time-correlated-single-photon-counting system for high-throughput lifetime imaging

Peronio

Labanca

Acconcia

et al. 2017

Review of Scientific Instruments

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“…Concerning the conversion electronics, recent advances in time-measurement circuits allowed us to decrease the dead time associated to the electronics down to about 10 nanoseconds [10][11][12]. For instance, we recently proposed a converter based on an array of Time-to-Amplitude Converters (TACs), which is able to measure more than an event during each excitation cycle, given an average detection rate up to 80 MHz [13]. In addition, it features excellent performance in terms of timing jitter (as low as 20 ps FWHM) and Differential Non Linearity (better than 0.04 LSB peak-peak) [14].…”

Section: Dead Time and Measurement Speed In Tcspc Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast fully-integrated front-end circuit to overcome pile-up limits in time-correlated single photon counting with single photon avalanche diodes

Acconcia¹,

Cominelli²,

Ghioni³

et al. 2018

Opt. Express

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Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) is an essential tool in many scientific applications, where the recording of optical pulses with picosecond precision is required. Unfortunately, a key issue has to be faced: distortion phenomena can affect TCSPC experiments at high count rates. In order to avoid this problem, TCSPC experiments have been commonly carried out by limiting the maximum operating frequency of a measurement channel below 5% of the excitation frequency, leading to a long acquisition time. Recently, it has been demonstrated that matching the detector dead time to the excitation period allows to keep distortion around zero regardless of the rate of impinging photons. This solution paves the way to unprecedented measurement speed in TCSPC experiments. In this scenario, the front-end circuits that drive the detector play a crucial role in determining the performance of the system, both in terms of measurement speed and timing performance. Here we present two fully integrated front-end circuits for Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs): a fast Active Quenching Circuit (AQC) and a fully-differential current pick-up circuit. The AQC can apply very fast voltage variations, as short as 1.6ns, to reset external custom-technology SPAD detectors. A fast reset, indeed, is a key parameter to maximize the measurement speed. The current pick-up circuit is based on a fully differential structure which allows unprecedented rejection of disturbances that typically affect SPAD-based systems at the end of the dead time. The circuit permits to sense the current edge resulting from a photon detection with picosecond accuracy and precision even a few picoseconds after the end of the dead time imposed by the AQC. This is a crucial requirement when the system is operated at high rates. Both circuits have been deeply characterized, especially in terms of achievable measurement speed and timing performance.

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“…Nevertheless, we recently demonstrated that the combination of an array of TAC converters and a sequential router can reduce to a negligible value the dead time associated to the electronics. 20 This architecture, known as Fast TAC (F-TAC), can lead to a significant simplification of the routing logic tasks since the converters can operate at the same rate of the laser.…”

Section: System Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

High-efficiency integrated readout circuit for single photon avalanche diode arrays in fluorescence lifetime imaging

Acconcia

Cominelli

Rech

et al. 2016

Review of Scientific Instruments

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In recent years, lifetime measurements by means of the Time Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) technique have led to a significant breakthrough in medical and biological fields. Unfortunately, the many advantages of TCSPC-based approaches come along with the major drawback of a relatively long acquisition time. The exploitation of multiple channels in parallel could in principle mitigate this issue, and at the same time it opens the way to a multi-parameter analysis of the optical signals, e.g., as a function of wavelength or spatial coordinates. The TCSPC multichannel solutions proposed so far, though, suffer from a tradeoff between number of channels and performance, and the overall measurement speed has not been increased according to the number of channels, thus reducing the advantages of having a multichannel system. In this paper, we present a novel readout architecture for bi-dimensional, high-density Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) arrays, specifically designed to maximize the throughput of the whole system and able to guarantee an efficient use of resources. The core of the system is a routing logic that can provide a dynamic connection between a large number of SPAD detectors and a much lower number of high-performance acquisition channels. A key feature of our smart router is its ability to guarantee high efficiency under any operating condition.

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Improving the counting efficiency in time-correlated single photon counting experiments by dead-time optimization

Cited by 40 publications

References 27 publications

32-channel time-correlated-single-photon-counting system for high-throughput lifetime imaging

32-channel time-correlated-single-photon-counting system for high-throughput lifetime imaging

Fast fully-integrated front-end circuit to overcome pile-up limits in time-correlated single photon counting with single photon avalanche diodes

High-efficiency integrated readout circuit for single photon avalanche diode arrays in fluorescence lifetime imaging

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