Three Firefly Flashes. One Second.

The 3D plot at right shoes the data collected over one second, as a single firefly flashed three times in succession. The random shot noise associated with the PMT and high-speed data collection system is obvious.

Watch what our mathematics do with this phenomenal data set...

The 2D plot are right shows intensity versus time of the three flashes emitted by the firefly in the sample compartment of an RSM. The data shown are the 556 nm points from each one-millisecond scan. The presentation is reminiscent of the graph one would obtain when one keeps in mind that each millisecond datum shown here is actually part of an entire wavelength scan, one recognizes the potential of the RSM to obtain both kinetic and spectral information simultaneously.

The two graphs at right show the spectrum (left) and kinetic behavior (right) derived from the full data set shown in the 2D and 3D plots. The Olis factor analysis software derived the curves from the 1,000 scans collected. The sloped line is an artifact of the fit program and is not significant in this case.

Global analysis of 100 scans (0.35 to 0.45 second) from the 3D plot produce the results shown at right. The graph shows the emission spectrum of the light.

The emission spectrum is uncorrected: no corrections have been made to account for system response as a function of wavelength.

The remarkable ability of the factor analysis and global fit software systems to extract meaningful information from "noisy" data is obvious. The computations and presentation required about two seconds from data collection.