title: Theoretical investigation of the signal-to-noise ratio in fluorescence lifetime imaging.
abstract: We deduce the signal-to-noise ratio for fluorescence lifetime imaging when using frequency-domain methods. We assume mono-exponential decay and quantum-noise-limited performance. The results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations with good agreement. We also compare our results with previous investigations of time-domain methods for fluorescence lifetime imaging. For a given number of detected photons, we find that frequency-domain and time-domain methods are equally good. The correct choice of detection technique and its parameters is important for obtaining good results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, The Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. johanph@math.kth.se
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philip
authors.forename: Kjell
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Carlsson
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method