摘要
Signal-to-noise ratio of fluorescence detection from a single molecule ＆ analysed by using time-gated techniques. It is found that the optimal signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained by choosing an appropriate gate time with a certain optical background. The dependences of molecular fluorescence lifetime and the optimal signal-to-noise ratio on the appropriate gate time are respectively discussed with two kinds of background sources~ chaotic state with uniform distribution and coherent state with exponential distribution in time domain. For chaotic state background we find that a certain range for appropriate gate time can be obtained with a definite fluorescence lifetime, larger fluorescence lifetime would lower the value of optimal signal-to-noise ratios. For coherent state background we find that there is also a narrow range of appropriate gate time when lifetime of single molecule is less than that of background photons.
Signal-to-noise ratio of fluorescence detection from a single molecule ＆ analysed by using time-gated techniques. It is found that the optimal signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained by choosing an appropriate gate time with a certain optical background. The dependences of molecular fluorescence lifetime and the optimal signal-to-noise ratio on the appropriate gate time are respectively discussed with two kinds of background sources~ chaotic state with uniform distribution and coherent state with exponential distribution in time domain. For chaotic state background we find that a certain range for appropriate gate time can be obtained with a definite fluorescence lifetime, larger fluorescence lifetime would lower the value of optimal signal-to-noise ratios. For coherent state background we find that there is also a narrow range of appropriate gate time when lifetime of single molecule is less than that of background photons.
基金
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 60378004 and 10674086, the National Key Basic Research and Development Programme of China under Grant Nos 2006CB921602 and 2006CB921102, the Shanxi Provincial Foundation for Leaders of Disciplines in Science, and PCSIRT（IRT0516）.
