Flexible instrument for time‐correlated single‐photon counting

A single‐photon counting instrument is described that is capable of recording single decay curves, time‐resolved spectra, and sequences of fluorescence decay curves with the emission wavelength, the time from the start of the experiment, or other externally variable values as parameters. The instrument contains an internal microcomputer for experiment and measurement system control, data processing, and data management. It can be operated at pulse repetition rates ranging from 10 to 200 MHz and allows a photon count rate of up to 106/s. The FWHM of the instrument response is 94 ps with a photomultiplier tube of type 18 ELU‐FM.

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