Characterization of a versatile reference instrument for traceable fluorescence measurements using different illumination and viewing geometries specified in practical colorimetry—part 2: sphere geometry (8:d)

Abstract

In the second part of this two-part series on the development of a versatile reference instrument at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), we have extended the characterization of the NRC Reference Goniospectrofluorimeter to high-accuracy fluorescence measurements in a sphere geometry (8:d) that is specified in standard test methods for many practical applications in colorimetry. This builds upon the work reported in part-one of this series which described in detail the design, characterization and validation of this new instrument for realizing a total spectral radiance factor scale in a bidirectional (45a:0) geometry. To extend the measurement capabilities to a sphere geometry, it was configured with a large diameter integrating sphere accessory. Preliminary results using a substitution-mode operating procedure showed large sphere errors that were characterized and corrected for. To improve this traceability, the sphere was modified to operate in comparison-mode and this effectively eliminated many of the sphere-related errors that typically limit the accuracy of sphere-based fluorescence measurements. The performance of the instrument configured for a sphere geometry (8:d) with this modified sphere design has been validated by means of comparison measurements of both non-fluorescent and fluorescent artifacts. The reflectance component has been validated using non-fluorescent comparison samples that have been calibrated under the same geometric conditions with traceability to the NRC Absolute Reflectometer (d:0 geometry). The fluorescent-only component has been validated using near-Lambertian fluorescent reflecting materials with traceability to the NRC Reference Spectrofluorimeter (45:0 geometry), under the assumption that this component is nearly the same for these two geometries. This work has enabled NRC to provide an uninterrupted link for improved traceability of fluorescence calibrations that specify a sphere geometry. These calibration requests include many important commercial applications, such as whiteness specification of fluorescently whitened paper and textile samples and color specification of fluorescent safety goods.