A photonic instantaneous frequency measurement system capable of measuring both RF frequency and power simultaneously, is conceived and practically demonstrated. This system employs an RF photonic Hilbert transformer together with low-cost, low-frequency photo-detectors to obtain two orthogonal DC measurements. This system exhibits a frequency range of 1-10 GHz. Wider frequency range can be achieved through integration.

A photonic implementation of a practical broadband RF Hilbert transformer is demonstrated by using a four-tap transversal system. An almost ideal 90 degrees phase shift with less than 3 dB of amplitude ripple has been achieved from 2.4 to 17.6 GHz. An efficient method to realize both transformed (quadrature-phase) and reference (in-phase) signal has been achieved by using a coarse wavelength division multiplexing coupler. Extension of the transformer bandwidth and further improvements of its implementation are discussed.

Laser scanning technology is one of the most integral parts of today's scientific research, manufacturing, defense, and biomedicine. In many applications, high-speed scanning capability is essential for scanning a large area in a short time and multi-dimensional sensing of moving objects and dynamical processes with fine temporal resolution. Unfortunately, conventional laser scanners are often too slow, resulting in limited precision and utility. Here we present a new type of laser scanner that offers ∼1,000 times higher scan rates than conventional state-of-the-art scanners. This method employs spatial dispersion of temporally stretched broadband optical pulses onto the target, enabling inertia-free laser scans at unprecedented scan rates of nearly 100 MHz at 800 nm. To show our scanner's broad utility, we use it to demonstrate unique and previously difficult-to-achieve capabilities in imaging, surface vibrometry, and flow cytometry at a record 2D raster scan rate of more than 100 kHz with 27,000 resolvable points.

A broadband photonic instantaneous frequency measurement system utilizing four-wave mixing in highly nonlinear fiber is demonstrated. This new approach is highly stable and does not require any high-speed electronics or photodetectors. A first principles model accurately predicts the system response. Frequency measurement responses from 1 to 40 GHz are demonstrated and simple reconfiguration allows the system to operate over multiple bands.

A new low cost method for implementing an Instantaneous Frequency Measurement (IFM) system is presented in this paper. The proposed method is based on dividing the incoming RF signal into four signals and filtering each one by an appropriate band-pass filter. The frequency is then estimated from the power level of the filtered signals. A closed form for the Standard Deviation (STD) and the bias of the frequency estimator is derived. A design example for an IFM system with a working frequency band of 2 to 4 GHz is presented with simulated and measured results. The design is implemented on a commercial FR4 (DE104) substrate using printed circuit board technology. Experiments in a laboratory show a maximum error of about 15 MHz in estimating the frequency value.

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) techniques are now widely used to address outstanding problems in biology and biophysics. In order to study freely diffusing molecules, current approaches consist in exciting a low concentration (<100 pM) sample with a single confocal spot using one or more lasers and detecting the induced single-molecule fluorescence in one or more spectrally- and/or polarization-distinct channels using single-pixel Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs). A large enough number of single-molecule bursts must be accumulated in order to compute FRET efficiencies with sufficient statistics. As a result, the minimum timescale of observable phenomena is set by the minimum acquisition time needed for accurate measurements, typically a few minutes or more, limiting this approach mostly to equilibrium studies. Increasing smFRET analysis throughput would allow studying dynamics with shorter timescales. We recently demonstrated a new multi-spot excitation approach, employing a novel multi-pixel SPAD array, using a simplified dual-view setup in which a single 8-pixel SPAD array was used to collect FRET data from 4 independent spots. In this work we extend our results to 8 spots and use two 8-SPAD arrays to collect donor and acceptor photons and demonstrate the capabilities of this system by studying a series of doubly labeled dsDNA samples with different donor-acceptor distances ranging from low to high FRET efficiencies. Our results show that it is possible to enhance the throughput of smFRET measurements in solution by almost one order of magnitude, opening the way for studies of single-molecule dynamics with fast timescale once larger SPAD arrays become available.

A microwave photonic in-phase and quadrature detector is conceived and practically demonstrated. The detector has the ability to become electronically reconfigured to operate at any frequency over a wide range. This makes it an excellent candidate for frequency agile radars and other electronic warfare systems based on frequency hopping. The detector exhibits a very low amplitude and phase imbalance, which removes the need for any imbalance compensation technique. The system is designed based on the transversal filtering concept and reconfigurability is achieved via wavelength control in a dispersive fiber. The system operation was demonstrated over a frequency range of 3.5-35 GHz, with a maximum of -32 dB amplitude imbalance.

Single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy of freely diffusing molecules in solution is a powerful tool used to investigate the properties of individual molecules. Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) are the detectors of choice for these applications. Recently a new type of SPAD detector was introduced, dubbed red-enhanced SPAD (RE-SPAD), with good sensitivity throughout the visible spectrum and with excellent timing performance. We report a characterization of this new detector for single-molecule fluorescence resonant energy transfer (smFRET) studies on freely diffusing molecules in a confocal geometry and alternating laser excitation (ALEX) scheme. We use a series of doubly-labeled DNA molecules with donor-to-acceptor distances covering the whole range of useful FRET values. Both intensity-based (μs-ALEX) and lifetime-based (ns-ALEX) measurements are presented and compared to identical measurements performed with standard thick SPADs. Our results demonstrate the great potential of this new detector for smFRET measurements and beyond.