A photometer and a method of performing photometric measurements with this photometer are described. The photometer comprises a photodetector providing a detector signal corresponding to an intensity of light received by the photodetector; and measurement electronics including: an amplifier and a signal processing device configured to determine and to provide a measurement result based on a measurement signal determined by the signal processing device as or based on an amplified detector signal provided by the amplifier. The signal processing device is configured to determine the measurement signal: a) as or based on the amplified detector signal provided by the amplifier being a multistage amplifier including a transimpedance converter and a voltage to current amplifier; and/or b) in form of a noise reduced signal determined by subtracting a previously determined noise offset included in the amplified detector signal from the amplified detector signal.

A sensing device provided herein includes a first pixel circuit, a readout circuit, a first switch, a second switch, and a first capacitor. The readout circuit is electrically connected to the first pixel circuit. The first switch is electrically connected between the first pixel circuit and the readout circuit. The second switch is electrically connected between the first switch and the readout circuit. The first capacitor includes a first electrode electrically connected to the first switch and the second switch.

A radiation-sensitive device is disclosed. The radiation-sensitive device includes: a plurality of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), and processing circuitry configured to determine an intensity of incident radiation using at least one of the plurality SPADs. An amount of the SPADs used to determine the intensity of the incident radiation varies in relation to the intensity of the incident radiation. Also disclosed in an associated method of determining an intensity of radiation incident upon such a radiation-sensitive device, and uses of the radiation-sensitive device in an electronic-nose or point-of-care apparatus, or for ambient light sensing.

A photoelectric conversion apparatus includes an avalanche photodiode including an anode and a cathode, a switch that is connected to one node of the anode and the cathode, and a power line to which a drive voltage is to be applied, and configured to switch a resistance value between the one node and the power line, and a signal generation unit configured to generate a pulse signal for controlling switching of the switch, wherein a value obtained by dividing the number of the pulse signals in a first exposure period by the first exposure period, and a value obtained by dividing the number of the pulse signals in a second exposure period having a length different from a length of the first exposure period, by the second exposure period are different.

A method for ascertaining the concentration of at least one material in a powder mixture used as starting material for the production of a component in an additive production method, comprising: providing the powder mixture having at least two different materials; guiding a high-energy beam generated by a radiation source over the surface of the powder mixture; detecting by a detection unit at least one brightness value of at least one subregion of the surface irradiated by the high-energy beam during the irradiation; ascertaining by an analysis unit the concentration of at least one material in the powder mixture depending on the detected at least one brightness value and at least one predetermined reference brightness value for a concentration and/or a concentration range of the material.

The present application relates generally to silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) detector arrays. In one aspect, there is a system including an array of cells each including a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) reverse-biased above a breakdown voltage of the SPAD. The system may further include a trigger network configured to generate pulses on a trigger line in response to SPADs of the array undergoing breakdown. The system may still further include a pulse-width filter configured to block pulses on the trigger line whose pulse width is less than a threshold width.

An optical measurement apparatus having an improved light intensity detection performance is provided. The optical measurement apparatus includes a light receiving element capable of converting a light intensity of light to be analyzed into an electrical signal; an input terminal to which the electrical signal is input; a first amplifier and a nonlinear element configuring a logarithmic amplifier; offset resistors; a switch unit; and a controller. An inverting input terminal of the first amplifier is electrically connected to the input terminal. The offset resistors have different resistance values. The switch unit can switch an offset resistor electrically connected between the voltage source and the input terminal, of the offset resistors. An offset current is input to the input terminal by the offset resistor electrically connected between the voltage source and the input terminal. The controller measures the light intensity based on an output voltage value of the first amplifier.

A light receiver (22) is provided having a plurality of avalanche photodiode elements (24) that can each be biased above a breakdown voltage by a bias voltage and can thus be operated in a Geiger mode, wherein the avalanche photodiode elements (24) form a plurality of groups, and having a control unit (30) to change the sensitivity of the avalanche photodiode elements (24) of a respective group. In this respect, the control unit (30) is configured to respectively change the sensitivity of the avalanche photodiode elements (24) of a group at at least one point in time assigned to the group, with different points in time being assigned to the groups.

An object detector including a light-emitting system to emit light to an object, a light detector, a signal detector, and a threshold adjuster. The light detector receives the light emitted from the light-emitting system and reflected by the object, and output a signal. The signal detector detects the signal output from the light detector based on a threshold value of voltage. The threshold adjuster changes the threshold value between when the light-emitting system emits light to a part of a light-emission range of the light-emitting system and when the light-emitting system emits light to other part of the light-emission range other than the part of the light-emission range.

The present invention introduces an arrangement for enhancing the performance of an electronic circuit comprising a phototransistor (Q). Either a common-collector or a common-emitter connected phototransistor (Q) has a main resistor (R.sub.L), and at least one external bias resistors (R.sub.L2, R.sub.L3, R.sub.L4), each in parallel to one another. The microcontroller may directly control the voltage outputs or act via respective switches (S1, S2) regarding each respective resistor. When the electronic circuit with the phototransistor (Q) is switched on, at least one of the external bias resistors (R.sub.L2, R.sub.L3, R.sub.L4) are switched on. The voltage output rise time is short, and when the bias has been set, the external bias resistor(s) are disconnected functionally. This means that during the actual measurement with the electric circuit, only the main resistor (R.sub.L) is used in the connection.