
The FluoTime 300 photoluminescence spectrometer could be used to study lanthanide-doped materials. The sample is excited by a pulsed laser, LED or Xe-flash lamp in time-resolved experiments, or by a Xe lamp or a cw laser in steady-state experiments and the emitted emission is detected by using a UV/Vis sensitive detector after emission wavelength selection by a monochromator. For lifetime measurements, either Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) or Multi-Channel Scaling (MCS) is used for data acquisition.
Consequently the essential components of a spectrometer set-up are:
- pulsed or CW excitation source
- monochromator
- single photon sensitive detector in the UV/Vis
- for lifetime measurements: TCSPC or MCS unit to measure lifetimes from ps to ms
PicoQuant offers the following system that can be used for upconversion measurements:
FluoTime 300
Fully Automated High Performance Fluorescence Lifetime Spectrometer
The FluoTime 300 "EasyTau" is a fully automated, high performance fluorescence lifetime spectrometer with steady-state and phosphorescence option. It contains the complete optics and electronics for recording fluorescence decays by means of Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) or Multichannel Scaling (MCS). The system is designed to be used with picosecond pulsed diode lasers, LEDs or Xenon lamps. Multiple detector options enable a large range of system configurations. With the FluoTime 300 decay times down to a few picoseconds can be resolved.
The following core components are needed to build a system capable of fluorescence upconversion measurements, which are (partly) available from PicoQuant:
- Laser drivers
- Laser or LED heads
- Photon Counting Detectors
- TCSPC and MCS Electronics
- Analysis software
Luminescence upconversion using Yb3+/Er3+
The luminescence of Yb3+/Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles was measured using Vis-NIR R2658P PMT detector integrated in FluoTime 300 spectrometer upon excitation at 980 nm. The combination of this detector which spectral sensitivity covers the spectral range between 200 and 1010 nm with FluoTime 300 allows to detect both upconversion luminescence of the lanthanide-doped materials and the excitation peak. This in turn makes it possible to measure the absolute upconversion luminescence quantum yield when the FluoTime 300 spectrometer is equipped with the integrating sphere.
Set-up:
Sample courtesy of Dr. U. Resch-Genger, BAM, Germany
Steady-state and time-resolved luminescence upconversion of NaYF4:Yb/Er

Steady-state and time-resolved luminescence upconversion of NaYF4:Yb/Er nanoparticles in acetonitrile was measured using the FluoTime 300 spectrometer with excitation at 980 nm (for time-resolved measurements burst excitation mode was used). The luminescence decay was detected at 540 nm.
Set-up:
Sample courtesy of T. Nyokong, Rhodes University, South Africa