Using a photomultiplier tube to measure weak bioluminescence

The design, development, and testing of a photon counting system for use in a luminometer instrument are described. The luminometer utilizes a microprocessor controller in the instrument as well as an AT class PC used as the operator interface. The problems encountered in field testing of the protot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE Proceedings of the SOUTHEASTCON '91 pp. 494 - 498 vol.1
Main Authors Heimer, M.L., Gutman, A., Del Boca, A.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 1991
Subjects
Biochemistry
Bioluminescence
Chemicals
Electric variables measurement
Instruments
Microorganisms
Organisms
Photomultipliers
Prototypes
Testing
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Summary:The design, development, and testing of a photon counting system for use in a luminometer instrument are described. The luminometer utilizes a microprocessor controller in the instrument as well as an AT class PC used as the operator interface. The problems encountered in field testing of the prototype unit led to changes which greatly improved the performance of the instrument. The major modification, adding an autocalibration procedure to set the operating conditions of each PMT (photomultiplier tube)-discriminator combination, has been implemented as a manual procedure and is presently being implemented as an automatic procedure. The performance of the instrument with the improvements shows a wide dynamic range, excellent linearity, and great stability in the test results.< >
ISBN:9780780300330
0780300335
DOI:10.1109/SECON.1991.147804