Molecular oxygen is one of the most important molecules in maintaining and extinguishing life as well as destroying materials. For several decades, researchers have been intrigued by the physical and chemical properties of molecular oxygen’s lowest excited state, singlet oxygen (1O2). Singlet oxygen has a unique reactivity that can result in polymer degradation or the death of biological cells. Its role as an intermediate in cell death is exploited by photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer, a technique in which light is utilized as a medical tool.
In PDT, a photosensitizer is incorporated into abnormal tissues and then irradiated with visible light so that it transfers energy to ground-state oxygen via the type II photochemical pathway, producing singlet oxygen (detected by its weak 1270 nm emission). Several high-spatial-resolution methods have been proposed to detect 1O2 luminescence using either a single photomultiplier tube (PMT), a linear InGaAs detector array, or a two-dimensional InGaAs detector.
Recommended Cameras for Singlet Oxygen Imaging
NIRvana
For low-light NIR and SWIR imaging and spectroscopy
- Designed for both end-user and OEM integration
- Ultra-low cooled cameras
- High sensitivity
PI-MAX 4
Ultrafast, Intensified Cameras
- Ultrashort ≤500 ps gating
- Fast 1 MHz gate opening rate
- Built-in precision timing and delay generator
IsoPlane
The guarantee of weak singlet oxygen signal capture is possible due to the high spectral resolution and imaging performance offered by the IsoPlane.
The IsoPlane provides twice the light-gathering power of a typical Czerny-Turner spectrograph, something required for low-light spectroscopy. This produces sharper images and improved resolution, ensuring all peaks within the resulting spectra are distinguished without the need for post-processing techniques.
The IsoPlane is astigmatism-free giving high spatial resolution, preventing crosstalk between >100 optical fiber channels, important if experimental set-ups are using fiber bundles for light capture.