Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Direct Fluorescent Decay Measurements Using High Speed Electronics

Abstract

Jerrie V. Fairbanks, Linda S Powers, Xiang Zhang, Andrew Duncan and Xavier Ramus

High speed data acquisition architecture is implemented as part of a time-resolved fluorescence detection instrument to directly measure the time course of fluorescent decay. The architecture is implemented using a very fast dynode chain photomultiplier tube and associated gating circuitry, a broad spectrum light emitting diode excitation source, very wide band electronics for amplification and filtering, and a high speed digital oscilloscope. The fluorescence decay of tris (2,2´-bipyridyl) ruthenium (II) is measured and the lifetime measurement is compared with that using other reported methods. The system’s architecture is thereby validated for data acquisition of broadband signals including transient fluorescent recording.