Side-illumination fluorescence spectroscopy. I. Principles

Fluorescence from dye-doped polymer optical fibers can be used as a broad-wavelength light source to measure the linear absorption in the fibers and to characterize one-photon excited states in the dye molecule. The side-illumination fluorescence (SIF) measurement technique takes advantage of the fluorescence generated in dye-doped fibers when they are excited from the side by a monochromatic light source. In addition to characterizing fiber loss mechanisms, SIF measurements can be used to determine the fiber quality through an autocorrelation measurement. We present the SIF measurement and the tools for analyzing the data acquired through the measurement. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(99)03010-6].