X-ray excited optical luminescence of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons.

Abstract

X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) coupled with time resolved spectroscopy was employed to analyze polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in n-alkane solvents at 10 K. A pulsed XEOL system which was designed around minicomputer control of a medical x-ray unit was developed. Computer software which generated variable width x-ray pulses, monitored timing reference pulses, controlled data acquisition, and analyzed data was written. Phosphorescence decay constants of several PAHs were determined. Synthetic mixtures of zone refined PAHs were prepared and time resolved with the pulsed XEOL technique. Analytical results obtained from the five component mixtures of PAHs at the part per million level were tabulated. Systematic improvements and further development of the pulsed XEOL method were considered.