title: 0.5 billion events per second time correlated single photon counting using CMOS SPAD arrays.
abstract: We present a digital architecture for fast acquisition of time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) events from a 32×32 complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) single photon avalanche detector (SPAD) array (Megaframe) to the computer memory. Custom firmware was written to transmit event codes from 1024-TCSPC-enabled pixels for fast transfer of TCSPC events. Our 1024-channel TCSPC system is capable of acquiring up to 0.5×10(9) TCSPC events per second with 16 histogram bins spanning a 14 ns width. Other options include 320×10(6) TCSPC events per second with 256 histogram bins spanning either a 14 or 56 ns time window. We present a wide-field fluorescence microscopy setup demonstrating fast fluorescence lifetime data acquisition. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fastest direct TCSPC transfer from a single photon counting device to the computer to date.
authors.forename: Nikola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Krstajić
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poland
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Levitt
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erdogan
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ameer-Beg
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D031405:Convallaria; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry; D055096:Optical Devices; D061848:Optical Imaging; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry; D017785:Photons; D012666:Semiconductors; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D010087:Oxides