Introducing the quantum efficiency of fluorescence of SCHOTT optical glasses

The fluorescence of optical glasses is a property that needs to be taken into account in optical designs for life science applications. Many optical glasses from SCHOTT show a very low intrinsic or auto-fluorescence. The fluorescence depends mainly on the applied excitation wavelength and the optical glass type. The fluorescence of optical glasses is usually defined as the quotient of the integral of the emission spectrum with the integral of the emission spectrum of a reference glass. This definition does not give any information about the actual quantum efficiency of the fluorescence. In this presentation recent data on the integral fluorescence of SCHOTT optical glasses are presented. Additionally, first measurements of the quantum efficiency of SCHOTT optical glasses are presented and compared to the standard method.