Diffuse optics using a dual window fast-gated counter.
In this paper we demonstrate the advantages of a fast-gated counter in achieving high count-rate and reducing costs of timing equipment in a time-resolved diffuse optical spectroscopy setup. We experimentally prove the equivalence between the fast-gated counter we developed and a traditional time-correlated single-photon counting setup in terms of depth sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, we show the suitability of this device for bilayer analysis and to estimate the absorption coefficient of homogeneous diffusing media. Finally, we present a proof-of-principle arterial occlusion measurement on a healthy volunteer to validate the proposed approach in a real application. Fast-gated counters can dramatically reduce both costs and complexity in time-resolved multichannel systems, while achieving high count-rate, thus offering a great advantage in applications like brain and muscle functional imaging.
Laura Di
LD
Sieno
Alberto Dalla
AD
Mora
Gianluca
G
Boso
Alberto
A
Tosi
Antonio
A
Pifferi
Rinaldo
R
Cubeddu
Davide
D
Contini