Precision and accuracy considerations for phosphorescence lifetime thermometry imaging using rapid lifetime determination

Phosphor lifetime imaging holds much promise as an accurate method for distributed temperature sensing. Several previous efforts have been directed at analyzing the potential and limitations of this technique in terms of accuracy and precision. In this paper, we analyze precision and accuracy of phosphor thermometry using the rapid lifetime determination (RLD) method, which relies on measuring the ratio of two luminescence images recorded at different delays following an optical excitation pulse. In particular, the analysis is concerned with strategies to optimize gate width and delays. Both experimental and simulated data revealed several critical issues that can be explained by taking into account the signal and noise characteristics of the lifetime measurement.