Recent progress of SiC UV single photon counting avalanche photodiodes

4H-SiC single photon counting avalanche photodiodes(SPADs)are prior devices for weak ultraviolet(UV)signal detection with the advantages of small size,low leakage current,high avalanche multiplication gain,and high quantum efficiency,which benefit from the large bandgap energy,high carrier drift velocity and excellent physical stability of 4 H-SiC semiconductor material.UV detectors are widely used in many key applications,such as missile plume detection,corona discharge,UV astronomy,and biological and chemical agent detection.In this paper,we will describe basic concepts and review recent results on device design,process development,and basic characterizations of 4 H-SiC avalanche photodiodes.Several promising device structures and uniformity of avalanche multiplication are discussed,which are important for achieving high performance of 4 HSiC UV SPADs.

Detailed calibration of the PI-LCX：1300 high performance single photon counting hard x-ray CCD camera

X-ray charge-coupled-device（CCD） camera working in single photon counting mode is a type of x-ray spectrometer with high-sensitivity and superior signal-to-noise performance. In this study, two single photon counting CCD cameras with the same mode（model： PI-LCX： 1300） are calibrated with quasi-monochromatic x-rays from radioactive sources and a conventional x-ray tube. The details of the CCD response to x-rays are analyzed by using a computer program of multi-pixel analyzing and event-distinguishing capability. The detection efficiency, energy resolution, fraction of multi-pixel events each as a function of x-ray energy, and consistence of two CCD cameras are obtained. The calibrated detection efficiency is consistent with the detection efficiency from Monte Carlo calculations with XOP program. When the multi-pixel event analysis is applied, the CCDs may be used to measure x-rays up to 60 ke V with good energy resolution（E /？E ≈ 100 at60 ke V）. The difference in detection efficiency between two CCD cameras is small（5.6% at 5.89 ke V）, but the difference in fraction of the single pixel event between them is much larger（25% at 8.04 ke V）. The obtained small relative error of detection efficiency（2.4% at 5.89 ke V） makes the high accurate measurement of x-ray yield possible in the laser plasma interaction studies. Based on the discrete calibration results, the calculated detection efficiency with XOP can be used for the whole range of 5 ke V–30 ke V.

Internal cancellation of spikes using two avalanche photodiodes in series for single photon detection

We propose a method of improving the performance of InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes by using two avalanche photodiodes in series as single photon detectors for 1550-nm wavelength. In this method, the raw single photon avalanche signals are not attenuated, thus a high signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained compared with the existing results. The performance of the scheme is investigated and the ratio of the dark count rate to the detection efficiency is obtained to be 1.3×10^-4 at 213 K.

Fast fluorescence lifetime imaging techniques:A review on challenge and development

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy(FLIM)is increasingly used in biomedicine,material science,chemistry,and other related research fields,because of its advantages of high specificity and sensitivity in monitoring cellular microenvironments,studying interaction between proteins,metabolic state,screening drugs and analyzing their efficacy,characterizing novel materials,and diagnosing early cancers.Understandably,there is a large interest in obtaining FLIM data within an acquisition time as short as possible.Consequently,there is currently a technology that advances towards faster and faster FLIM recording.However,the maximum speed of a recording technique is only part of the problerm.The acquisition time of a FLIM image is a complex function of many factors.These include the photon rate that can be obtained from the sample,the amount of information a technique extracts from the decay functions,the fficiency at which it determines fluorescence decay parameters from the recorded photons,the demands for the accuracy of these parameters,the number of pixels,and the lateral and axial resolutions that are obtained in biological materials.Starting from a discussion of the parameters which determine the acquisition time,this review will describe existing and emerging FLIM techniques and data analysis algo-rithms,and analyze their performance and recording speed in biological and biomedical applications.

Ultra-low power anti-crosstalk collision avoidance light detection and ranging using chaotic pulse position modulation approach

A novel concept of collision avoidance single-photon light detection and ranging（LIDAR） for vehicles has been demonstrated, in which chaotic pulse position modulation is applied on the transmitted laser pulses for robust anti-crosstalk purposes. Besides, single-photon detectors（SPD） and time correlated single photon counting techniques are adapted, to sense the ultra-low power used for the consideration of compact structure and eye safety. Parameters including pulse rate, discrimination threshold, and number of accumulated pulses have been thoroughly analyzed based on the detection requirements, resulting in specified receiver operating characteristics curves. Both simulation and indoor experiments were performed to verify the excellent anti-crosstalk capability of the presented collision avoidance LIDAR despite ultra-low transmitting power.

Terpyridine-derived Zn^(2+) Selective Fluorescence Sensor: Ratiometric Fluoroionophoric Behavior Study

A sensitive and selective zinc ion ratiometric fluorescence sensor has been synthesized and characterized. This material displays dual fluorescence. After the material was bonded to a closed-shell metal ion, such as Zn2＋, the recovery of the local excited fluorescence of the material-Zn2＋ complex, largely at the expense of the intramolecular charge transfer fluorescence, is consistent with the difference between selected orbital transitions of the free dye and the metal-chelated complex. For instance, the contribution of the πtpy→πtpy, transition becomes more prominent. This is also consistent with the results of the fluorescence decay behavior, measured via a time-correlated single photon counting setup. In contrast, the corresponding open shell Ni2＋ -bound complex quenches both kinds of photoluminescence, due to spin-orbit coupling.

A hybrid-type quantum random number generator

This paper proposes a well-performing hybrid-type truly quantum random number generator based on the time interval between two independent single-photon detection signals, which is practical and intuitive, and generates the initial random number sources from a combination of multiple existing random number sources. A time-to-amplitude converter and multichannel analyzer are used for qualitative analysis to demonstrate that each and every step is random. Furthermore, a carefully designed data acquisition system is used to obtain a high-quality random sequence. Our scheme is simple and proves that the random number bit rate can be dramatically increased to satisfy practical requirements.

QUANTIFYING THE SHORT LIFETIME WITH TCSPC-FLIM:FIRST MOMENT VERSUS FITTING METHODS

Combing the time corelated single photon counting(TCSPC)with fuorescence lifetime imaging microscopy(FLIM)provides promising opportunities in revealing important information on the microenvironment of cells and tissues,but the applications are thus far mainly limited by the accuracy and precision of the TCSPC-FLIM technique.Here we present a comprehensive in-vestigation on the perforance of two data analysis methods,the first moment(M_(1))method and the conventional least squares(Fitting)method,in quantifying fuorescence lifetime.We found that the Mp method is more superior than the Fitting method when the lifetime is short(70-400ps)or the signal intensity is weak(<10^(3) photons).