Time-Resolved Constant-Energy Synchronous Phosphorimetry

Abstract

Constant-energy synchronous scanning has been combined with time resolution in order to increase the spectral selectivity in low-temperature phosphorimetry. The technique is called Time-Resolved Constant-Energy Synchronous Phosphorimetry (TRCESP). The personal computer-controlled flashlamp phosphorimeter consisted of a conventional spectrophosphorimeter with computer control of the scanning of the excitation and emission spectrometers. Temporal features such as the repetition rate, source pulse width, delay time between termination of the source pulse and the gate opening, and detector gate width were under various forms of electronic control. A discussion of the spectral resolution resulting from synchronous scanning and temporal resolution from pulsing the source and gating the detector is given. Several mixtures of phosphors are evaluated with respect to the effect of spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and combination of the two resolution approaches upon both sensitivity and selectivity measurements.