A portable silicon photodiode luminometer

A simple, inexpensive, battery-powered, portable luminometer which is based on a silicon photodiode is described. The instrument is intended to measure the light produced by chemiluminescent and bioluminescent reactions. The devic shows a good detection limit and, in a bioluminescent reaction for adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP), detected 0.5 pmol in 1ml of aqueous solution. The instrument measures irradiance from 10^?13 to 10?¹¹ W cm^?2 at the sensor, within the range 300 to 900nm.