Time Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC)

We are North American agents for Becker & Hickl GmbH of Berlin, Germany. Becker & Hickl's line of personal computer based electronics for Time Correlated Single Photon Counting and similar high speed laser fluorescence excitation and photodetection in the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared. We are also authorized resellers of fast photon counting PMTs and MCP-PMTs from Hamamatsu in Japan. We are exclusive agents for id Quantique in Switzerland, whose PHOTON COUNTING APDs have significantly better temporal response than the earlier generation of devices from Perkin Elmer. Click for details.

Products include not only a variety of TCSPC modules but also high speed boxcar integrators, high speed detectors, and a wide range of accessories. You may already be familiar with or using B&H electronics if you have fluorescence time decay products from either Edinburgh Instruments in Scotland or from Picoquant in Germany as both these companies previously used B&H electronics modules in their systems.

FLIM and FRET

The largest single application at this time is FLIM, Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging, using a laser scanning confocal microscope (we have upgrade kits for Zeiss, Leica and Olympus) and a high rep rate picosecond (or faster) laser such as a Ti: Sapphire or a pulsed diode for one-photon or two-photon excitation. FRET, fluorescence resonant energy transfer, can be best visualized by FLIM. Another (increasingly) hot topic is FCS, Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy. The latest version of the B&H software (bundled at no cost with the electronics) includes a new FCS module.

The NEWS! at SPIE's BiOS and Photonics West conferences in San Jose (Jan 20 to 25, 2007) we INTRODUCED a NEW FLIM microscope from Becker & Hickl. Contact us for details of how to convert almost ANY microscope to confocal fluorescence lifetime imaging operation at a fraction of the cost of a system from Zeiss, Leica, or Olympus!

For a more complete idea of what is available, including prices [we sell at the exact same prices as posted in euros on their website except translated at our risk into US $ or other currency of your choice and with a little added for freight and duty added], please click through to the B&H website at www.becker-hickl.de (The B&H control and analysis software can be downloaded there and will run in demo mode with no card installed ) and / or download the LARGE documents below.

And for the very very serious, the latest version of the B&H Manual is available by clicking here . This is a very large tutorial handbook.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Send email to the Webmaster at Boston Electronics.