Title :
Using a photomultiplier tube to measure weak bioluminescence
Author :
Heimer, M.L. ; Gutman, A. ; Del Boca, A.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Florida Int. Univ., Miami, FL, USA
Abstract :
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
Keywords :
biological techniques and instruments; chemiluminescence; computerised instrumentation; photomultipliers; AT class PC; autocalibration procedure; automatic procedure; biophysical research instrumentation; dynamic range; field testing; instrument performance; linearity; manual procedure; microprocessor controller; operating conditions; operator interface; photomultiplier tube; photon counting system; prototype unit; stability; weak bioluminescence measurement; Biochemistry; Bioluminescence; Chemicals; Electric variables measurement; Instruments; Microorganisms; Organisms; Photomultipliers; Prototypes; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Southeastcon '91., IEEE Proceedings of
Conference_Location :
Williamsburg, VA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-0033-5
DOI :
10.1109/SECON.1991.147804
