Estimating Fluor Emission Spectra Using Digital Image Analysis Compared to Spectrophotometer Measurements

Abstract

This paper describes a practical method for obtaining the spectra of lights emitted by a fluor in a liquid scintillator (LS) using a digital camera. The emission wavelength results obtained using a digital image were compared with those obtained using a fluorescence spectrophotometer. For general users, conventional spectrophotometers are expensive and difficult to access. Moreover, their experimental measurement setup and processes are highly complicated, and they require considerable care in handling. To overcome these limitations, a feasibility study was performed to obtain the emission spectrum through image analysis. Specifically, the emission spectrum of a fluor dissolved in a liquid scintillator was obtained using digital image analysis. An image processing method was employed to convert the light irradiated during camera exposure into wavelengths. Hue (H) and wavelength (W) are closely related. Thus, we obtained an H-W response curve in the 400~450 nm wavelength region, using a light-emitting diode. Another relevant advantage of the method described in this study is its non-invasiveness in sealed LS samples. Our results showed that this method has the potential to accurately investigate the emission wavelengths of fluor within acceptable uncertainties. We envision the use of this method to perform experiments in chemistry and physics laboratories in the future.

Keywords

• liquid scintillator
• color space
• digital camera
• image analysis
• spectrophotometer
• fluor