A Deconvolution Technique for Determining the Intrinsic Fluorescence Decay Lifetimes of Crude Oils

Abstract

A simple deconvolution procedure using FT was developed for determining the average lifetime of samples excited by a nitrogen laser pumped dye laser operating at 428 nm. To overcome the noise limitations imposed by including higher frequency harmonics in the analysis, we used an alternative approach. This approach relied on taking the Fourier transform at 21 subharmonic frequencies and using an appropriate weighting procedure in the calculation of amplitude and lifetime of the sample impulse response. A single exponential decay was assumed.