Excitation-emission spectroscopy with charge coupled detectors

Excitation-emission spectroscopy becomes increasingly useful in the study of photo-luminescent materials. The spectral selectivity of the technique enables the quantification of multiple emitting sites in rare-earth doped crystals as well as the rapid acquisition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in contaminated water. In order to obtain a complete spectral fingerprint via excitation-emission spectroscopy, scans at multiple excitation wavelengths over the emission spectra are required. Especially in the case of rare-earth materials with narrow emission linewidths, this is extremely demanding in terms of resolution. The acquisition time of such excitation-emission maps (EEM) can be significantly reduced by using Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detectors.