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Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is a highly sensitive fluorescence microscopy technique that can be used to probe a wide range of biophysical processes including diffusion, Ligand-receptor binding and molecular aggregation on artificial and cell membranes. FCS is able to measure very small volumes at nanomolar concentrations. In this work, we review the different types of diffusion on cell membranes,describe the theory of FCS and illustrate several of its applications for the characterization of membranes and membrane associated proteins. For comparison with other techniques we discuss the differences of FCS and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP),a widely used technique for diffusion measurements on membranes, in detail