{
  "id": 5337605,
  "title": "PURELIGHT: a quantitative photon-counting framework unifying intensity and lifetime imaging at video rate across detector technologies",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/purelight-a-quantitative-photon-counting-framework-unifying-intensity",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.28.747260v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Quantitative fluorescence microscopy demands photon efficiency, speed, and precise intensity and lifetime measurements. Time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) measures both intensity and lifetime concurrently, but photon pile-up distorts both signals at high count rates, precluding rapid acquisitions. Current corrections eliminate photons, compromise intensity, or necessitate specialized detectors. In this article, we present PURELIGHT, a unified hardware and software platform that concurrently recovers accurate intensities and lifetimes even at count rates surpassing traditional pile-up boundaries. PURELIGHT functions with hybrid photodetectors, silicon photomultipliers, and photomultiplier tubes while retaining over three times more photons compared to alternative methods. Utilizing two-photon imaging, we illustrate PURELIGHT's enhanced accuracy and spatial contrast, including video-rate subcellular lifetime imaging in conscious mice, an unprecedented ratiometric modality, and crosstalk-free temporal multiplexing. By eliminating the constraints that have restricted TCSPC to low-signal applications, PURELIGHT encourages the widespread use of quantitative, photon-efficient microscopy in various life sciences disciplines.",
  "summary": "Quantitative fluorescence microscopy requires photon-efficiency, speed and accurate intensity and lifetime measurements. Time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) simultaneously captures intensity and lifetime, but photon pile-up distorts both signals at high count rates, preventing fast acquisitions. Existing corrections discard photons, distort intensity, or require specialized detectors.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}