A FAST DECONVOLUTION METHOD TO ANALYZE FLUORESCENCE DECAYS WHEN THE EXCITATION PULSE REPETITION PERIOD IS LESS THAN THE DECAY TIMES

In order to fit the whole range of sawtooth-like fluorescence decay curves observed upon excitation with a high-frequency excitation source, a fast deconvolution method (iterative nonlinear least-squares fit) has been developed. The method was tested first on the computer-simulated decays of two different types, i. e. , the decays generated with and without statistical Poisson noises. In either case excellent agreement was seen between the employed decay parameters and the recovered ones. In order to exemplify its effectiveness, the method was then applied to actual non-exponential decays. The essential minimum from the computer program is also given.