Assessment of different SSIM terms for integrating vs. averaging photon collection

Dataset <strong>“AccumulatingDetection.lif”</strong> contains images of DNA distribution in a nucleus of a fixed zebrafish embryo, obtained by (STED) microscopy. Depending on the microscope detector type and settings, photons can be accumulated over time without normalization (integrating detector). Images were acquired with line-repeat scans in the accumulation mode, using increasing numbers of line repetitions (accumulation steps). Python script <strong>“AccumulatingDetection.py”</strong> works on AccumulatingDetection.lif dataset and calculates the luminance (mean) and structural (covariance) term of SSIM and illustrate how different terms of SSIM depend on the duration of photon collection. Dataset <strong>“AveragingDetection_DwellTime.lif”</strong> contains DNA images that were acquired with the detector which is left open to collect photons at each pixel for longer times (dwell time), then the photon count is normalized by the dwell time. Python script <strong>“AveragingDetection.py”</strong> is to investigate the changes of structural and luminance terms of SSIM in the integrating detector case.