Optimal use of photomultipliers for chemiluminescence and bioluminescence applications.
Photomultipliers are the preferred detectors for quantifying weak or short-lived light emissions. The quality of signal recovery has an upper limit imposed by the statistical nature of light detection. It is shown that the photon counting method can provide performance close to ideal, whereas performance in the current measuring method is degraded by noise in the multiplier gain process and by the nature of the dark current. Performance variations because of changes in temperature, shock, vibration and magnetic field effects are significantly reduced when using the photon counting method. The effects of dead-time can be corrected making photon counting superior to current measuring with regard to dynamic range. The benefits of using photon counting packages are presented.
Ellis
R J
RJ
Electron Tubes Ltd, Bury Street, Ruislip HA4 7TA, UK.
Wright
A G
AG
D008027:Light; D049449:Luminescence; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D010783:Photometry / Q000379:methods*; D017785:Photons