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A computer-controlled variable light attenuator for protection and autoranging of a laser-induced fluorescence
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. yoda@biochem.okstate.edu
Electrophoresis
|October 7, 1998
Abstract:
Photodetectors have a limited range over which they can measure light intensities for any particular setting. The intensity of light reaching the detector can be kept within this range by using a liquid crystal variable light attenuator controlled by a computer that continuously checks the amount of light reaching the detector and adjusts the attenuation to an appropriate level. Using such a system we have constructed an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera-based detector with a dynamic range of over six orders of magnitude which is never exposed to damaging or saturating light levels.