SUBNANOSECOND SINGLE PHOTON TIMING MEASUREMENTS USING A PULSED DIODE‐LASER*

Abstract
The convenient and inexpensive use of a pulsed diode‐laser (Hamamatsu Photonics PLP‐01 660 nm) is demonstrated as a low cost alternative to a standard pulsed laser or gas discharge flash system in a commercial time‐correlated single photon counting instrument. Fluorescence lifetimes of compounds of photobiological interest such as phytochrome, chlorophyll a, 1,1 ′‐diethyl‐4,4′ carbocyanine iodide (DCI/cryptocyanin),5,10,15,20‐tetra(p‐phenyl) porphyrin and stentorin I are presented using the pulsed diode‐laser source.