Decrease In Lifetime Research Articles

Impact of Combined Zr, Ti, and V Additions on the Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and Thermomechanical Fatigue Behavior of Al-Cu Cast Alloys

The effects of minor additions of the transition elements Zr, Ti, and V on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue behavior of 224 Al-Cu alloys were investigated. The results revealed that the introduction of the transition elements led to a refined grain size and a finer and much denser distribution of θ″/θ′ precipitates compared to that of the base alloy, which enhanced the tensile strength but reduced the elongation at both room temperature and 300 °C. Constitutive analyses based on theoretical strength calculations indicated that precipitation strengthening was the primary mechanism contributing to the strength of both tested alloys at room temperature and 300 °C. The out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue test results showed that the addition of transition elements caused a slight decrease in the fatigue lifetime, which was mainly attributed to the reduced ductility and higher peak tensile stress at low temperatures. During the fatigue process, the transition element-added alloy exhibited a lower coarsening ratio, indicating higher thermal stability, which mitigated the negative impact of the reduced ductility on the fatigue performance to some extent. Considering their various properties, the addition of Zr, Ti, and V is recommended to improve the overall performance of Al-Cu 224 cast alloys.

Micrometer-Resolution Fluorescence and Lifetime Mappings of CsPbBr3 Nanocrystal Films Coupled with a TiO2 Grating.

Enhancing light emission from perovskite nanocrystal (NC) films is essential in light-emitting devices, as their conventional stacks often restrict the escape of emitted light. This work addresses this challenge by employing a TiO2 grating to enhance light extraction and shape the emission of CsPbBr3 nanocrystal films. Angle-resolved photoluminescence (PL) demonstrated a 10-fold increase in emission intensity by coupling the Bloch resonances of the grating with the spontaneous emission of the perovskite NCs. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) provided micrometer-resolution mapping of both PL intensity and lifetime across a large area, revealing a decrease in PL lifetime from 8.2 ns for NC films on glass to 6.1 ns on the TiO2 grating. Back focal plane (BFP) spectroscopy confirmed how the Bloch resonances transformed the unpolarized, spatially incoherent emission of NCs into polarized and directed light. These findings provide further insights into the interactions between dielectric nanostructures and perovskite NC films, offering possible pathways for designing better performing perovskite optoelectronic devices.

MoS2-CZTS: a 2D-3D nanocomposite to enhance the photocatalytic performance in degradation of methylene blue dye

Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystals (CZTS NCs), MoS2 nanosheet (NS) and MoS2-CZTS nanocomposite (NC) have been synthesized using solvothermal route. Structural characterization of samples have been done by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, HR-TEM. Samples have optically characterized by UV-Vis absorption, photoluminescence (PL) and time co-related single photon counting (TCSPC) study. The XRD, HR-TEM and Raman spectroscopy established tetragonal kesterite phase for both CZTS NCs and MoS2-CZTS NC. Enhancement of efficiency of CZTS NCs to degrade methylene blue (MB) dye, illuminated by visible light, have been observed by loading 1 wt.% MoS2 NS and found to be ~100% in only 15 minutes. This is due to efficent transfer of charge carriers at p-CZTS and n-MoS2 heterojunction interface, confirmed by quenching of PL intensity and decrease in average lifetime of carriers.

A novel ZnO-TiO2-Bi2WO6/Carboxymethyl chitosan composite with high antimicrobial activity and visible-light catalytic degradation of ethylene towards banana preservation in hot and humid environments

In order to solve the problem of significantly shortened storage time of bananas in hot and humid environment (e.g., 30 °C and 90 % relative humidity), this paper reports the preparation of ZnO-TiO2-Bi2WO6 (ZTB) ternary heterojunction antimicrobial photocatalysts composite carboxymethyl chitosan film (ZTB/CMCS). ZTB were prepared by hydrothermal method and composited with CMCS by surface deposition method to construct ZTB/CMCS edible nano-preservation film. It is noteworthy that the ZTB/CMCS composite film exhibited excellent antibacterial efficiency (>99.99 %) against E. coli and S. aureus suspensions (106 CFU/mL) after 24 h of incubation at 37 °C. Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectroscopy showed that the incorporation of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) into the ZTB structure led to a decrease in fluorescence lifetime. Moreover, the interfacial interaction between ZnO and TiO2/Bi2WO6 inhibited the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, promoting carrier separation and improving photocatalytic activity. The combination of high antibacterial activity, photocatalytic degradation of ethylene and inhibition of gas exchange provided multiple protections for fruit preservation. Therefore, this work provides a novel, effective and safe method for prolonging the preservation of bananas in hot and humid environments.

Temperature Dependent Optical Properties of Ultrathin InAs Quantum Well

Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (TDPL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) of ultrathin InAs quantum wells (QWs) in GaAs matrix have been investigated to understand the optical properties of carriers. Samples containing different thicknesses of InAs (0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.2, 1.4 monolayers) have been used for this study. The PL peak position of InAs with temperature does not follow the Varshni model at low temperatures. The activation energy (EA) of these QWs has been calculated from TDPL. As expected, the thinnest QW sample (0.5 monolayer) results in the smallest EA of 23 meV, whereas the thickest QW sample (1.4 monolayer) results in the highest EA of 79 meV. Carrier lifetime has been calculated from TRPL measurement for varying temperatures. At 10 K, the carrier lifetime increased almost linearly from 250 to 800 ps with the InAs QW thickness. Thicker InAs QW results in a longer carrier lifetime, which has been explained by the carrier escape model. Higher temperatures resulted in a decrease in carrier lifetime, which suggests carrier escape is dominating the temporal decay behavior.

Lifetime prediction of copper pillar bumps based on fatigue crack propagation

2.5D package realizes the interconnection of multiple dies through Si interposers, which can greatly improve the data transmission rate between dies. However, its multi-layer structure and high package density also place higher reliability requirements on the interconnection structure. As a key structure for interconnection, copper pillar bump (CPB) has small size, high heat generation, and thermal mismatch with silicon chips. The thermal fatigue failure of CPB has gradually become the main failure mode in 2.5D package. Due to the small size of CPB and the large proportion of intermetallic compound (IMC) layers, the lifetime prediction method of spherical solder joints is no longer suitable for CPB. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a fatigue lifetime prediction method for CPB. This paper establishes a method for obtaining the lifetime of CPB based on the basic theory of fatigue crack propagation. Using the extended finite element simulation method, the crack propagation lifetime of CPB under thermal cycling was obtained, and the influence of different IMC layer thickness on the fatigue lifetime of CPB was analyzed. The results indicated that the fatigue lifetime of cracks propagating in the IMC layer is lower than that of cracks propagating in the solder layer, and an increase in the thickness of the IMC layer leads to a significant decrease in the fatigue lifetime of CPB. The lifetime prediction method for CPB proposed in this paper can be used for reliability evaluation of 2.5D package, and has certain reference value for the study of the lifetime of CPB.

Lifetime maximization of IoT-enabled smart grid applications using error control strategies

Recently, with the advancement of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, IoT-enabled Smart Grid (SG) applications have gained tremendous popularity. Ensuring reliable communication in IoT-based SG applications is challenging due to the harsh channel environment often encountered in the power grid. Error Control (EC) techniques have emerged as a promising solution to enhance reliability. Nevertheless, ensuring network reliability requires a substantial amount of energy consumption. In this paper, we formulate a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model which considers the energy dissipation of EC techniques to maximize IoT network lifetime while ensuring the desired level of IoT network reliability. We develop meta-heuristic approaches such as Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to address the high computation complexity of large-scale IoT networks. Performance evaluations indicate that the EC-Node strategy, where each IoT node employs the most energy-efficient EC technique, yields a minimum of 8.9% extended lifetimes compared to the EC-Net strategies, where all IoT nodes employ the same EC method for a communication. Moreover, the PSO algorithm reduces the computational time by 77% while exhibiting a 2.69% network lifetime decrease compared to the optimal solution.

Intricate Evaporation Dynamics in Different Multidroplet Configurations.

We experimentally investigate the evaporation dynamics of an array of sessile droplets arranged in different configurations. Utilizing a customized goniometer, we capture side and top view profiles to monitor the evolution of height, spread, contact angle, and volume of the droplets. Our results reveal that the lifetime of a droplet array surpasses that of an isolated droplet, attributed to the shielding effect induced by neighboring droplets, which elevates the local vapor concentration, thereby reducing the evaporation rate. We found that lifetime increases as droplet separation distance decreases at a fixed configuration and substrate temperature. It is observed that the lifetimes increase with the number of droplets. We observe a decrease in lifetimes, following a power law trend, with increasing substrate temperature, with the shielding effect diminishing at higher substrate temperatures due to natural convective effects. We also observe a generalized behavior for the centrally placed droplet across various separation distances and substrate temperatures. This arises from different droplet configurations and substrate temperatures, which modify the local vapor concentration around the droplets without significantly impacting the contact line dynamics. Additionally, the experimental results are compared with a diffusion-based theoretical model that incorporates the evaporative cooling effect to predict the lifetime of the central droplet within the array. We observe that the theoretical model satisfactorily predicts the lifetime of the droplet at room temperature. However, for high-temperature cases, the model slightly overpredicts the evaporative lifetimes.

Enhanced Structure/Interfacial Properties of Single‐Crystal Ni‐Rich LiNi0.92Co0.04Mn0.04O2 Cathodes Synthesized Via LiCl‐NaCl Molten‐Salt Method

Arising from the increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs), Ni‐rich LiNixCoyMnzO2 (NCM, x + y + z = 1, x ≥ 0.8) cathode with greatly increased energy density are being researched and commercialized for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). However, parasitic crack formation during the discharge–charge cycling process remains as a major degradation mechanism. Cracking leads to increase in the specific surface area, loss of electrical contact between the primary particles, and facilitates liquid electrolyte infiltration into the cathode active material, accelerating capacity fading and decrease in lifetime. In contrast, Ni‐rich NCM when used as a single crystal exhibits superior cycling performances due to its rigid mechanical property that resists cracking during long charge–discharge process even under harsh conditions. In this paper, we present comparative investigation between single crystal Ni‐rich LiNi0.92Co0.04Mn0.04O2 (SC) and polycrystalline Ni‐rich LiNi0.92Co0.04Mn0.04O2 (PC). The relatively improved cycling performances of SC are attributed to smaller anisotropic volume change, higher reversibility of phase transition, and resistance to crack formation. The superior properties of SC are demonstrated by in situ characterization and battery tests. Consequently, it is inferred from the results obtained that optimization of preparation conditions can be regarded as a key approach to obtain well crystallized and superior electrochemical performances.

Substantial breakdown of the hydrogen-bonding network, local density inhomogeneities and fluid-liquid structural transitions in supercritical octanol-1: A molecular dynamics investigation.

Molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to explore the hydrogen-bonding structure and dynamics in supercritical octanol-1 at a near-critical temperature and up to high densities and pressures. A substantial breakdown of the hydrogen-bonding network when going from ambient-liquid to supercritical conditions is revealed. The fraction of the non-hydrogen bonded molecules significantly increases in supercritical octanol-1, and a substantial decrease in the intermittent hydrogen-bond lifetime is observed. This behavior is also reflected on the maximum local density augmentation, which is comparable to the values obtained for non-polar and non-hydrogen bonded fluids. The existence of a structural transition from an inhomogeneous fluid phase to a soft-liquid one at densities higher than 2.0 ρc is also revealed. At higher densities, a significant change in the reorientational relaxation process is observed, reflected on the significant increase in the ratio of the Legendre reorientational times τ1R/τ2R. The latter becomes much higher than the value predicted by the Debye model of diffusive reorientation and the corresponding ratio for ambient liquid octanol-1. The non-polar tail of octanol-1 under supercritical conditions reorients more slowly in comparison with the polar tail. Interestingly, the opposite behavior is observed for the ambient liquid, further verifying the strong effect of the breakdown of the hydrogen bonding network on the properties of supercritical octanol-1. In accordance with the above-mentioned findings, the static dielectric constant of supercritical octanol-1 is very low even at high densities and pressures, comparable to the values obtained for non-polar and non-hydrogen bonded fluids.

Longitudinal associations between time perspective and life satisfaction across adulthood

Time perspective is an important predictor of well-being. How time is represented, is itself subject to developmental change. A time perspective dominated by the future is increasingly replaced by one focused on the present and past as remaining lifetime decreases. These age-related changes supposedly are associated with higher subjective well-being. Previous studies yielded heterogeneous results. However, these studies mostly investigated one dimension of time perspective and did not include younger and/or middle-aged adults. Thus, we investigated how changes in four facets of time perspective (past-orientation, concreteness of future time, obsolescence, and attitudes towards finitude) were related to changes in life and domain-specific satisfaction and if these relations were moderated by age. We used 10-year longitudinal data from an age-diverse sample comprising 459 participants (30–80 years). Concreteness was most consistently related to satisfaction. Individuals with overall higher concreteness reported higher life satisfaction and higher life satisfaction was reported on measurement occasions with higher concreteness. An age moderation was only found for satisfaction with mental fitness. Among younger but not older adults, satisfaction with mental fitness was higher on measurement occasions with higher concreteness. Our study provides a deeper understanding of the relation between time perspective and well-being across adulthood.

Study of Concentration Quenching and Energy Transfer Mechanism in Ce Doped Y2O3 Nanomaterials.

We study concentration quenching and energy transfer mechanisms of yttrium oxide (Y2O3) nanomaterials doped with different concentrations (0-5mol%) of cerium (Ce). Photoluminescence (PL) spectra recorded under an excitation wavelength of 350nm show a broad emission band at ∼ 406nm and a feeble emission band at ∼ 463nm in the undoped Y2O3 sample. The doping of Ce in Y2O3 induced multiple PL peaks within the blue-green region of the spectrum in all the doped samples with the peak at ∼ 466nm being notably the prominent one. This prominent emission band exhibits a decrease in intensity with increasing Ce concentration due to concentration quenching. Analysis of Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectra reveal that the average emission lifetime of Ce-doped Y2O3 is shorter than that of the undoped Y2O3 sample. The concentration quenching effect and the decrease of average emission lifetime of the dominant emission band are explained on the basis of energy transfer from the host Y2O3 to the Ce3+ ion centres. The critical quenching concentration of Ce3+ ion in Y2O3:Ce phosphor was identified to be 1mol% and the critical transfer distance was estimated to be 23.74 Å. Analysis reveal that the concentration quenching mechanism involves nearest-neighbour interaction.

Comparative analysis of microstructure, electrical and optical performance in sidewall etching process for GaN-based green micro-LED

Micro-LEDs show the size-dependent external quantum efficiency (EQE) reduction problem, mainly owing to increased non-radiative recombination loss at the sidewall for smaller chip size. In this work, the evolution of microstructure, surface potential and optical performance of the green micro-LED sidewall was investigated comparatively after inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) etching through transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Kelvin probe force microscope (KPFM), cathodoluminescence (CL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL). As confirmed by TEM and geometric phase analysis (GPA), ICP etching causes sidewalls to form atomically rough semi-polar surfaces and increases 25% compressive strain at the sidewall compared to the inside. TMAH solution introduces new sidewall defects due to excessive etching of three atomic layers of InGaN. Holes accumulate at the surface because of build-in electric field as showed by KPFM. The sidewall defects lead to a decrease in carrier lifetime resulting in uneven luminescence of micro-LED mesa. TMAH treatment removes the damaged layer and reduces the non-radiative recombination rate. ICP causes damage to the nanoscale structure, however the influence of sidewall defects on the carrier behavior is in the micron range due to unavoidable surface dangling bonds and surface lattice relaxation. A non-radiative recombination mechanism is proposed based on strain relaxation.

Plasmon-enhanced fluorescence for biophotonics and bio-analytical applications.

Fluorescence spectroscopy serves as an ultrasensitive sophisticated tool where background noises which serve as a major impediment to the detection of the desired signals can be safely avoided for detections down to the single-molecule levels. One such way of bypassing background noise is plasmon-enhanced fluorescence (PEF), where the interactions of fluorophores at the surface of metals or plasmonic nanoparticles are probed. The underlying condition is a significant spectral overlap between the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the nanoparticle and the absorption or emission spectra of the fluorophore. The rationale being the coupling of the excited state of the fluorophore with the localized surface plasmon leads to an augmented emission, owing to local field enhancement. It is manifested in enhanced quantum yields concurrent with a decrease in fluorescence lifetimes, owing to an increase in radiative rate constants. This improvement in detection provided by PEF allows a significant scope of expansion in the domain of weakly emitting fluorophores which otherwise would have remained unperceivable. The concept of coupling of weak emitters with plasmons can bypass the problems of photobleaching, opening up avenues of imaging with significantly higher sensitivity and improved resolution. Furthermore, amplification of the emission signal by the coupling of free electrons of the metal nanoparticles with the electrons of the fluorophore provides ample opportunities for achieving lower detection limits that are involved in biological imaging and molecular sensing. One avenue that has attracted significant attraction in the last few years is the fast, label-free detection of bio-analytes under physiological conditions using plasmonic nanoparticles for point-of-care analysis. This review focusses on the applications of plasmonic nanomaterials in the field of biosensing, imaging with a brief introduction on the different aspects of LSPR and fabrication techniques.

Spectroscopic and Thermographic Qualities of Praseodymium-Doped Oxyfluorotellurite Glasses.

The thermal stability of oxyfluorotellurite glass systems, (65-x)TeO2-20ZnF2-12PbO-3Nb2O5-xPr2O3, doped with praseodymium was examined. The different concentrations of praseodymium oxide (x = 0.5 and 2 mol%) were applied to verify the thermal, optical and luminescence properties of the materials under study. The relatively high values of the Dietzel (ΔT) and Saad-Poulain (S or H') thermal stability factors determined using a differential thermal analysis (DTA) indicate the good thermal stability of the glass matrix, which gradually improves with the content of the active dopant. The temperature dependence of optical spectra in the temperature range 300-675 K for the VIS-NIR region was investigated. The involved Pr3+ optical transition intensities and relaxation dynamic of the praseodymium luminescent level were determined. The ultrashort femtosecond pulses were utilized to examine a dynamic relaxation of the praseodymium luminescent levels. Although the measured emission of the Pr3+ active ions in the studied glass encompasses the quite broad spectral region, the observed luminescence may only be attributed to 3PJ excited states. As a result, the observed decrease in the experimental lifetime for the 3P0 level along with the increasing activator content was identified as an intensification of the Pr-Pr interplay and the associated self-quenching process. The maximum relative sensitivities (Sr) estimated over a relatively wide temperature range are ~0.46% K-1 (at 300 K) for FIR (I530/I497) and 0.20% K-1 (at 600 K) for FIR (I630/I497), which seems to confirm the possibility of using investigated glasses in optical temperature sensors.

Structure, luminescence properties, and energy transfer of Dy3+/Sm3+ co-doped BCAZM glasses for white LED applications

B2O3–CaO–Al2O3–ZnO–MoO3 luminescent glasses doped with Dy3+, Sm3+, and Dy3+/Sm3+ were prepared by melt-quenching method. Structure, luminescence properties, energy transfer and thermal stability of the glasses were analysed. As deduced from the increase in density, [BO4] unit proportion and Dy3+ luminescence yellow/blue ratio and the decrease in band gap value, the increase in the doping concentration of Sm2O3 promotes the formation of non-bridging oxygen and enhances the structural asymmetry. Meanwhile, the change in Dy3+ emission intensity and the decrease in fluorescence lifetime indicate the presence of an energy transfer from Dy3+ to Sm3+, and the Inokuti-Hirayama model fit suggests that the energy transfer may occur within the Dy3+-Sm3+ cluster. In addition, the CIE chromaticity coordinates and correlated colour temperature of the Dy3+/Sm3+ co-doped B2O3–CaO–Al2O3–ZnO–MoO3 glass fall within the white light region and have good thermal stability, which is potentially promising for application in W-LED lighting.

P‐195: Analysis of Impurities in OLED Materials

We conducted combustion ion chromatography, TOFSIMS, and LC/MS measurements to identify impurities in OLED materials affecting device lifetime decreases. The results of various analyses indicated that the synthesis lot with a low device lifetime contained a significant amount of brominated Host‐1 (Host‐1‐Br), and we successfully identified the compound responsible for the degradation of the device lifetime.

Harnessing the Dual‐Mode Luminescence of Er/Yb Co‐Doped SrLaLiTeO6 Double Perovskite Phosphors for Remarkably Wide Range Temperature Sensing and NIR pc‐LEDs

AbstractThe ever‐increasing demand for efficient and economic photonic materials has hastened the quest for robust, multifunctional phosphors. Herein, a dual‐mode luminescent SrLaLiTeO6:Er3+, Yb3+ double perovskite phosphor whose concentration‐dependent up and down‐conversion luminescence are investigated and underlying mechanisms are discussed. Temperature‐dependent up‐conversion luminescence of 2H11/2→4I15/2 transition exhibits negative thermal quenching, owing to the thermalization process from the 4S3/2 level. Temperature dependent Raman analysis confirms a decrease in the phonon lifetime from 0.43 to 0.28 ps indicating an increased number of phonon decay channels, which explains the rapid thermal quenching of up‐conversion emission at elevated temperatures. The diverse thermal quenching of the thermally coupled levels contributes to the exceptionally high relative sensitivity of 4.49 %K−1 at 140 K. A maximum sensitivity, Sr of 0.84 %K−1 (698 K) is obtained from the Raman‐PL intensity ratio (RPIR) of the band (719 cm−1) and the 986 nm emission band (4I11/2→4I15/2) of Er3+. Hence, by employing multi‐mode temperature sensing techniques a single phosphor can be used for optical thermometry for a broad temperature range from 90 to 698 K. In addition, the Near Infra‐Red (NIR)‐II emission of Er3+ corresponding to 4I13/2→4I15/2 transition shows excellent thermal stability, maintaining 72% of the room temperature intensity at 500 K.

Plasmonic effect of metal nanoparticles on the photocatalytic properties of TiO2/rGO composite

A comparative study of the plasmon effect of Ag and Au nanoparticles on TiO2/rGO nanocomposite was carried out. The synthesis of Au and Ag nanoparticles was carried out by laser ablation. The morphology and structure of the nanocomposites were studied by EDA, HRTEM, XRD and Raman spectroscopy. It was shown that the absorption capacity of the nanocomposite material was increased in the visible range of the spectrum when Ag and Au nanoparticles were added to TiO2/rGO. This leads to an increase in their photocatalytic activity. The photocurrent generated by NC/Au 10−11 films is in 3.8 times and NC/Ag 10−12 is in 2 times higher compared to pure TiO2/rGO film. Similar results were obtained from experimental data on the dyes photodegradation. In the presence of plasmon nanoparticles a significant enhancement in the electrical properties of the TiO2/rGO nanocomposite was recorded. The charge carrier transfer resistance in nanocomposites was decreased by almost ∼7 times for NC/Au,10−11 and ∼4 times for NC/Ag,10−12 films compared to pure TiO2/rGO. In addition, for nanocomposites with Ag or Au nanoparticles, a decrease in the effective electron lifetime was observed. The data obtained allow us to conclude that plasmonic NPs have a synergistic effect in TiO2/rGO nanocomposites, which consists in modifying both their light-harvesting properties and charge-transport characteristics. The results obtained can be used for the design of materials with improved photocatalytic and optoelectronic characteristics.

Fluorescence lifetime of plant leaves with sub-nanosecond resolution

The study aimed to develop a measurement apparatus for in vivo chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) fluorescence decay measurements of plants by means of time correlated single photon counting. In this approach, sub-nanosecond laser pulses with a repetition rate of 10 MHz are applied to excite the sample, followed by the analysis of arrival times of the emitted fluorescence photons. Photon statistics are generated by iteratively fitting the sum of two exponential functions. The tool was tested on both plastid and in vivo leaf samples of Savoy cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. sabauda) with 3–4 subsequent leaves giving a complete sample coverage starting from the outermost. The Chl-a fluorescence lifetime exhibited a gradual increase in both the isolated plastid suspensions and the in vivo leaf samples towards the innermost leaf layers explained by an increase of natural absence of light (etiolation syndrome). Furthermore, cadmium stress and iron deficiency were investigated on treated sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) samples in vivo using TCSPS measurements. The reduced fluorescence quenching resulted in an increased fluorescence lifetime. Finally, a long-term (10 week) testing of the setup was carried out on Chl-retaining resurrection Haberlea rhodopensis plants protecting themselves by an elevated non-photochemical quenching yielding a decrease of fluorescence lifetime during their desiccation.