Line scanning mechanical streak systems and methods for phosphorescence lifetime imaging

A method, comprising:

• directing a laser beam toward a first target location of a sample;
• exciting the first target location with the laser;
• receiving light energy from the first target location with a detector, the light energy being indicative of the excitation level of the first target location;
• creating streak lines indicative of the time-dependent decrease in light energy due to an excitation decay of the first target location;
• determining a representative decay time for the streak line;
• assigning a color to the representative decay time;
• and
• presenting the decay time on a 2D plot representative of the location of the first target location on the sample and color coded depicting the decay time.

A system, comprising:

• a laser light source;
• a scanner configured to direct a light beam generated by the laser light source in a first direction along a laser beam pathway to a plurality of target locations on a sample;
• means for directing energy indicative of the target decay of the plurality of target locations following illumination by the laser beam in a second direction opposite the first direction along at least a portion of the laser beam pathway;
• a detector configured to receive the energy indicative of the target decay of the plurality of target locations;
• means for converting the energy indicative of the target decay of the plurality of target locations and received by the detector into a representation for each target location of the sample reflecting the location of each target location on the sample and the decay time associated with each target location on the sample.