Lifetimes laser diode

Light emitted by an LED is nearly monochromatic (pseudomono-chromatic). LEDs are robust and their lifetimes are more than 100 000 hours. Spectral characteristics of exemplary LEDs in comparison with laser diodes (LD) are shown in Figure 4. 

The commercialization of inexpensive robust LED and laser diode sources down to the uv region (370 nm) and cheaper fast electronics has boosted the application of luminescence lifetime-based sensors, using both the pump-and-probe and phase-sensitive techniques. The latter has found wider application in marketed optosensors since cheaper and more simple acquisition and data processing electronics are required due to the limited bandwidth of the sinusoidal tone(s) used for the luminophore excitation. Advantages of luminescence lifetime sensing also include the linearity of the Stem-Volmer plot, regardless the static or dynamic nature of the quenching mechanism (equation 10) ... 

If the width of the excitation flash (nowadays typically from a pulsed LED or laser diode) is not shorter than approximately 1/3 of the fluorescence lifetime to be measured, signal deconvolution should be used to extract meaningful values from the kinetic data fit. 

Prior to describing the possible applications of laser-diode fluorometry, it is important to understand the two methods now used to measure fluorescence lifetimes these being the time-domain (Tl)/4 5 24 and frequency-domain (FD) or phase-modulation methods.(25) In TD fluorometry, the sample is excited by a pulse of light followed by measurement of the time-dependent intensity. In FD fluorometry, the sample is excited with amplitude-modulated light. The lifetime can be found from the phase angle delay and demodulation of the emission relative to the modulated incident light. We do not wish to fuel the debate of TD versus FD methods, but it is clear that phase and modulation measurements can be performed with simple and low cost instrumentation, and can provide excellent accuracy with short data acquisition times. 

How can phase-modulation fluorometry contribute to this health-care need It now seems possible to construct a lifetime-based blood gas catheter (Figure 1.3), or alternatively, an apparatus to read the blood gas in the freshly drawn blood at the patient s bedside. To be specific, fluorophores are presently known to accomplish the task using a 543-nm Green Helium-Neon laser,(18 19) and it seems likely that the chemistries will be identified for a laser diode source. The use of longer wavelengths should minimize the problems of light absorption and autofluorescence of the samples, and the use of phase or modulation sensing should provide the robustness needed in a clinical environment. For the more technically oriented researcher, we note that the... 

Finally, we note that future instrument for lifetime-based sensing and imaging can be based on laser diode light sources. At present it is desirable to develop specific probes which can be excited from 630 to 780 nm, the usual range of laser diodes. The use of such probes will allow us to avoid the use of complex laser sources, which should result in the expanded use of fluorescence detection in the chemical and biomedical sensors. 

Figure 11.15. Schematics of the optical arrangement and temperature probes for the Cr+ fluorescence lifetime-based fiber optic thermometers. F = short-pass optical filter Fa = bandpass or long-pass optical filter LD = laser diode LED = light emitting diode S = the fluorescence material used as sensing element vm = signal to modulate the output intensity of the excitation light source v/= the detected fluorescence response from the sensing element.

The subsequent development of laser diode sources at low cost, and improved electronic detection, coupled with new probe fabrication techniques have now opened up this field to higher-temperature measurement. This has resulted in an alexandrite fluorescence lifetime based fiber optic thermometer system,(38) with a visible laser diode as the excitation source which has achieved a measurement repeatability of l°C over the region from room temperature to 700°C, using the lifetime measurement technique. 

Abbreviations LD = laser diode PLD = phase-locked detection of fluorescence lifetime rr = lifetime deviation. 

GaN-based laser diodes have now been shown to be reliable, potentially extremely useful devices [1], These laser diodes have been developed within a very short time span of about two years. Starting with pulsed operation at room temperature [2] mid later CW operation [3], we have experienced an exponentially increasing device lifetime. 

Fluorescence can be resolved overtime. The use of very short pulsed light sources (picosecond lasers and laser diodes) has rendered accessible graphs of fluorescence decay as a function of the time. New applications based upon a greater knowledge of the lifetime are under development, although they are still not used much in chemical analysis. 

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