PerkinElmer Licenses SiPM Tech

Health sciences and photonics company PerkinElmer Inc. of Waltham, Mass., has signed a licensing agreement with Max Planck Innovation, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society, for its ultrafast, low-crosstalk solid-state silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) technology. Devices with SiPM technology can detect extremely low numbers of photons and can even be operated in a single-photon counting mode. SiPM boasts ultrashort response times and extremely low power consumption compared with traditional avalanche photodiodes (APDs) and is applicable to a variety of low-light level applications. PerkinElmer’s photon detection products include silicon and indium gallium arsenide APDs and PIN photodiodes for high-performance applications as well as channel photomultipliers for molecular detection in analytical applications and clinical diagnostics. The company said Max Planck’s SiPM technology will allow it to serve applications including positron emission tomography (PET) diagnostic scanning and a variety of analytical fluorescence applications.

Published: August 2009

Glossary

fluorescence: Fluorescence is a type of luminescence, which is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. Specifically, fluorescence involves the absorption of light at one wavelength and the subsequent re-emission of light at a longer wavelength. The emitted light occurs almost instantaneously and ceases when the excitation light source is removed. Key characteristics of fluorescence include: Excitation and emission wavelengths: Fluorescent materials...
nano: An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
photon: A quantum of electromagnetic energy of a single mode; i.e., a single wavelength, direction and polarization. As a unit of energy, each photon equals hn, h being Planck's constant and n, the frequency of the propagating electromagnetic wave. The momentum of the photon in the direction of propagation is hn/c, c being the speed of light.
photonics: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...
scanning: The successive analysis or synthesizing of the light values or other similar characteristics of the components of a picture area, following a given method.

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