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Pulse counting (called photon counting when making optical measurements) is used for very low signal levels when the signal consists of discrete voltage spikes. A discriminator on the input passes only voltage spikes above a set level (signal) and rejects voltage spikes at lower voltages (noise). In this way The pulse counter counts each discrete input pulse over some time period and outputs a count rate. Gated photon counting For repetitive pulsed signals such as optical fluorescence , the pulse counting can be gated to occur only during a fixed time window, similar to the signal integration by a gated integrator . Similarly to a gated integrator the gate can be scanned in time to obtain the transient. Example ApplicationsCW pulse counting Measurement of weak ion signals in a mass spectrometer when using an electron-multiplier tube or microchannel plate ion detectors. Gateded photon counting Measurement of a weak fluorescence signal after excitation with a laser pulse. Related TopicsIndex of detection electronicsIntroduction to electronicsIntroduction to data acquisition
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