Abstract: The present invention provides a time-resolved single-photon counting apparatus, including an excitation light source for generating pulsed excitation light, a specimen optics for collecting an optical signal caused by irradiating the pulsed excitation light to a specimen, a photoelectric converter for photoelectrically converting the optical signal to generate an analog single-photon signal, an analog-to-digital (AD) signal converter for sampling the analog single-photon signal to convert the same into a digital single-photon signal, a digital photon-discrimination and timing detector for generating a photon-discrimination signal by discriminating the single-photon property of the digital single-photon signal to count a pulse time point of the digital single-photon signal to generate a delay time signal having delay time information, and a time-signal processor for counting valid single-photon detection events according to the delay time with reference to the photon-discrimination signal.

Abstract: The present invention provides a time-resolved single-photon counting apparatus, including an excitation light source for generating pulsed excitation light, a specimen optics for collecting an optical signal caused by irradiating the pulsed excitation light to a specimen, a photoelectric converter for photoelectrically converting the optical signal to generate an analog single-photon signal, an analog-to-digital (AD) signal converter for sampling the analog single-photon signal to convert the same into a digital single-photon signal, a digital photon-discrimination and timing detector for generating a photon-discrimination signal by discriminating the single-photon property of the digital single-photon signal to count a pulse time point of the digital single-photon signal to generate a delay time signal having delay time information, and a time-signal processor for counting valid single-photon detection events according to the delay time with reference to the photon-discrimination signal.

Abstract: The present invention describes a scheme of reconfiguring an ordinary OCT system to a PS-OCT variant. In this scheme, a polarization mode-dependent optical delay (PMOD) unit is inserted at the sample arm of the OCT interferometer. As a consequence of its large retardation, the resulted OCT image contains a plurality of image replicas separated by the group delay difference of the polarization modes. The polarization-sensitive interference can be analyzed by the amplitude ratios between the replicated images. Because of the simplicity of this method, an ordinary OCT system can be easily and cost-effectively reconfigured to add a useful PS-OCT imaging function. This method can be applied to any low coherence interferometric technique such as spectral-domain OCT, time-domain OCT, and spectral-encoded microscopy.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for measuring a fluorescence lifetime. The apparatus for measuring the fluorescence lifetime comprises an excitation light generator that generates excitation light to be irradiated on a sample including fluorescence molecules; a fluorescence photon collecting unit that collects a plurality of fluorescence photons generated by irradiating the excitation light on the sample; a light sensor that converts the collected fluorescence photons into a fluorescence electrical signal; and a fluorescence lifetime signal processor that determines the fluorescence lifetime by calculating the average time of the fluorescence electrical signal with respect to a predetermined apparatus delay time. According to the above configuration, the present invention can accurately and precisely measure a fluorescence lifetime in a short measurement time by easy calculation.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for measuring a fluorescence lifetime. The apparatus for measuring the fluorescence lifetime comprises an excitation light generator that generates excitation light to be irradiated on a sample including fluorescence molecules; a fluorescence photon collecting unit that collects a plurality of fluorescence photons generated by irradiating the excitation light on the sample; a light sensor that converts the collected fluorescence photons into a fluorescence electrical signal; and a fluorescence lifetime signal processor that determines the fluorescence lifetime by calculating the average time of the fluorescence electrical signal with respect to a predetermined apparatus delay time. According to the above configuration, the present invention can accurately and precisely measure a fluorescence lifetime in a short measurement time by easy calculation.