Fast, flexible algorithm for calculating photon correlations.
We introduce a new algorithm for computing correlations of photon arrival time data acquired in single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The algorithm is based on rewriting the correlation as a counting operation on photon pairs and can be used with arbitrary bin widths and spacing. The flexibility of the algorithm is demonstrated by use of FCS simulations and single-molecule photon antibunching experiments. Execution speed is comparable to the commonly used multiple-tau correlation technique. Wide bin spacings are possible that allow for real-time software calculation of correlations, even for high count rates.
Physical Biosciences Institute, Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA. laurence2@llnl.gov
Ted A
TA
Laurence
Samantha
S
Fore
Thomas
T
Huser
D000465:Algorithms; D017785:Photons; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic