Fluorescence lifetime-resolved imaging.

This is a short account of fluorescence lifetime-resolved imaging, in order to acquaint readers who are not experts with the basic methods for measuring lifetime-resolved signals throughout an image. We present the early FLI (fluorescence lifetime imaging) history, review shortly the instrumentation and experimental design, discuss briefly the fundamentals of the measured fluorescence response, and introduce the basic measurement methodologies. We also emphasize the complex nature of the fluorescence response in FLI signals, and introduce certain analysis methods that are appropriate and informative for complex fluorescence decays. The advantages of model independent analyses are discussed and examples given. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009