With pulse durations as short as 50ps, the pulsed diode lasers perfectly match the time resolution of mainstream detectors, yet at a price ten times lower than that of mode locked lasers
After the picosecond pulsed diode lasers at 375, 405 and 440nm, PicoQuant now announces the release of a new 375nm high power picosecond pulsed diode laser.
With pulse durations as short as 50ps, the pulsed diode lasers perfectly match the time resolution of mainstream detectors, yet at a price ten times lower than that of commonly used mode locked lasers.
Incorporating the new UV sources into their product portfolio PicoQuant meets an urgent demand for more powerful excitation sources in the shorter wavelength range.
In the past, the common sources in this range were either nanosecond flash lamps with low repetition rate or expensive and bulky frequency doubled Ti:Sa lasers.
Both require extensive maintenance and considerable experience to run in daily work.
As in the red and infrared range, the new pulsed diode laser sources offer the benefits of cheap and compact integrated turn- key systems together with high power and the high repetition rates desired for fast time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC).
These features open the door for entirely new applications beyond the research lab, eg, in bioanalysis, biochemistry, genetics, optical storage, semiconductor characterisation and quality control.
Important applications include fluorescence lifetime imaging (Flim), fluorescence energy transfer measurements (Fret) as well as single molecule spectroscopy and detection.
The laser system consists of a dedicated driver box PDL 800-B (one channel) or PDL 808 Sepia (multi-channel) and interchangeable laser heads.
Laser heads are available from 375 to 440nm and 635 to 1500nm and come with collimator optics that can optionally be fitted with optical fibres.
The internal pulse clock of the driver runs at a maximum frequency of 40 MHz and can be divided by 2, 4, 8 and 16. Alternatively the laser pulses can be triggered through an external sync input, the trigger frequency can then be from single shot to 40MHz.
A synchronisation output allows the laser driver to trigger other devices such as the TimeHarp-series TCSPC boards.
