Single photon array cameras for lifetime imaging Round 2: Revenge of the TIRF

With the use of a new generation single photon array, I will discuss our work towards developing a robust platform for performing single molecule widefield fluorescent lifetime imaging. SPAD arrays are becoming a widely used technology, combining the widefield aspects of conventional CCD or CMOS with the single photon detection and time tagging capabilities of single photon detectors. Our work focuses on microscopy applications, mainly fluorescent lifetime imaging. I will give a brief overview of this new type of SPAD array “SPCImager” as well as the trade off in photon collection with temporal resolution for lifetime work, comparing the results with a state-of-the-art commercial scanning single point fluorescent lifetime system. I will also explain the challenges of single molecule imaging, and how the development of a custom TIRF microscope system and computer modelling were required to push the SPAD array technology to its limits.