Application of the antibunching in dye fluorescence: Measuring the excitation rates in solution

Experiments on antibunching in fluorescence of Rhodamine 6G in aqueous solution have been carried out under optimized conditions. The dependence of the antibunching correlation times on the excitation intensity has been studied, taking into account the saturation effects in the Gaussian intensity profile of the exciting laser beam. Information on the decay and excitation rates can be obtained and, with the knowledge of the excitation intensity, the absorption cross-section can be estimated.