Confocal Microscopy enables imaging of thin optical section
in optically thick specimens (living biological tissue).
Many students (such as pictured above at Confocal Day, 6-24-09) are
becoming interested in confocal as an interesting and powerful tool.
The two matlab codes below calculate the optical power
of the confocal optical signal falling on a detector as a function
of the power of the laser used and the molar concentration
of the fluorescent chemical species in the focal region.
Matlab instructions:
1) Download the two Matlab files
2) Check out the comments in the code
3) Adapt the code for your experimental conditions
4) Run the program
Source code in Matlab:
Master Code Link
Eosin Data Link
Once you are comfortable calculating the amount of light you'll detect
learn about detection in the powerpoint below. This will help you let
the optics be the limiting factor and not poor detection technique.
Additional files:
Noise analysis for PMT Matlab Code
Noise analysis for DAQ Matlab Code
Hamamatsu PMT info 1 PDF Link
Hamamatsu PMT info 2 PDF Link