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We present a new high resolution design of FPGA-based Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) and time tagging electronics with multiple synchronized input channels. The new instrument achieves a state-of-the-art digital time resolution of 1 ps and a single channel timing uncertainty of 2 ps rms along with an ultra short dead-time. This unprecedented combination enables new high-resolution TCSPC applications and significantly improves the resolution of the established high-speed fluorescence lifetime imaging method RapidFLIM. In oder to support the widest possible variety of single photon detectors the new instrument provides software-configurable input circuitry. For optimal timimg with e.g. Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPD) the inputs can be configured as edge triggers while for best performance with Hybrid Photodetectors (HPD) or Micro Channel Plates (MCP) they can be configured as vertex finding Constant Fraction Discriminators (CFD). Apart from design features and benchmark results of the instrument as such, we present results from fast fluorescence lifetime imaging and some snapshots of other applications.
Koberling et al. (Mon,) studied this question.