PicoQuant's primary raw data format for time-tagged time-resolved (TTTR) measurements is the PTU format. The format specification is publicly available and well-documented, and has been adopted by a broad ecosystem of third-party tools and open-source projects.
File format documentation and demo code
The full PTU format specification, including header descriptions and data layouts for all supported devices ("Harps"), is available on our GitHub repository:
- PicoQuant Time-Tagged File Format Demos — demo source code in multiple languages for reading TCSPC/TTTR data files
- Format documentation — header and file format specifications
These scripts are intended as a starting point for building your own analysis software.
Note: Files produced by different TCSPC devices have different internal formats. Some third-party tools only support files from specific devices, so check compatibility before use.
snAPI — Python abstraction layer for point measurements
For Python users, PicoQuant provides snAPI, a high-level Python library designed for point (non-imaging) measurement files. It abstracts away the low-level PTU format details, supports both reading data from file and acquiring data directly from hardware, and provides a range of built-in processing functions including:
- Histogramming — build time-resolved decay histograms
- Correlation — compute fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) curves
- Heralding — filter photon streams based on herald events
- Coincidence — perform coincidence analysis for quantum optics experiments
Exporting data from PicoQuant software
If you are working with PicoQuant's high-level software packages — EasyTau, SymPhoTime 64, or Luminosa — you do not need to work with the raw PTU files directly. All of these applications support exporting measurement results and analyzed data to standard formats, including ASCII text files and common image formats, which can then be imported into any analysis tool of your choice.
Third-party and open-source software
A number of open-source packages support reading and analyzing PicoQuant PTU files directly. A curated list is maintained here:
Open-source software for PicoQuant data analysis and acquisition