Spectrally-selective Time-resolved Emission through Fourier-filtering (STEF)

12 November 2021, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

In this manuscript we demonstrate that directing the emitted photon stream from a fluorescent sample through a fixed path-length imbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer allows us to separate and resolve the dynamics of different emitters without the use of filtering optics. Our method, Spectrallyselective Time-resolved Emission through Fourier-filtering (STEF) takes advantage of a careful selection of interferometer position where one signal can be canceled (or enhanced) due to its unique spectral characteristics. STEF is straightforward to implement and provides a complementary approach to separate spectrally overlapped signals based on their coherence length and carrier frequency. We also discuss how one can implement STEF with an imperfect Mach-Zehnder interferometer, increasing the utility of this method, and demonstrate how Mach-Zehnder filtering can be used to image fluorophores in biologically relevant samples.

Keywords

Interferometry
Balanced Detection
Confocal Scanning
Spectral Separation
Lifetimes

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Supporting Information: Spectrally-selective Time-resolved Emission through Fourier-filtering (STEF)
Description
Detailed information on overall specification of optical setup, theoretical considerations, data processing, and any supporting data collected
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.