Standardization of fluorescence spectra and the calibration of spectrofluorimeters.

A technique is proposed that can be used to calibrate the amplitude of fluorescence spectra so that spectra reported by different laboratories can be compared quantitatively. The technique is based upon the scattering of light by a solution of polystyrene. In order to compare quantitatively data obtained from different spectrofluorimeters, these terms are defined: the spectrofluorimetric sensitivity, the noise-equivalent concentration, and the fluorophotometric reproducibility. The author shows how these quantities can be measured with the polystyrene standard.