Stroboscopic excitation fluorescence lifetime imaging

荧光寿命成像是一种功能强大的显微技术，广泛应用于生物和医学领域，尤其是成像细胞。它是基于分子或蛋白质的使用，当被光源照射时会发出荧光。荧光的寿命是测量的，而不是它的强度，所以创建的图像提供了关于荧光持续时间的信息，而不是它的亮度。荧光寿命受生物分子事件的影响，因此薄膜提供了关于细胞生命周期的信息以及它的图像。为了测量荧光寿命，通常需要一个快速探测器，因为它只持续几十亿分之一秒。测量持续时间很短，测量值存在很大的不确定度。这项研究提出了一种使用光脉冲流来激发荧光的新技术。然后通过改变这些脉冲的频率来测量荧光寿命。在这种情况下，可以使用较慢的探测器，并在几秒钟内进行寿命测量，从而消除了其值的不确定性。这项技术类似于使用频闪显微镜，让人眼(一个速度较慢的探测器)看到快速移动的物体。

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is a powerful microscopy technique used widely in biology and medicine particularly for imaging cells. It is based on the use of molecules or proteins that fluoresce when illuminated by a light source. The lifetime of the fluorescence is measured rather than its intensity and so the image created gives information on how long the fluorescence lasts for rather than how bright it is. The lifetime is affected by bio-molecular events and so FLIM provides information on the life cycle of the cell as well as images of it.To measure the fluoresence lifetime a fast detector is usually needed as it only lasts for a few billionths of a second. The duration of the measurement is so short that there is a large uncertainty in the measured value. This research proposes a new technique which uses a stream of light pulses to excite the fluoresence. The fluorescence lifetime is then measured by changing the frequency of these pulses. In this case a slow detector can be used and the lifetime measurement done over many seconds thus removing uncertainties in its value. The technique is similar to the use of a stroboscope to allow the human eye ( a slow detector ) to see rapidly moving objects.