Quantitative analysis of the self-absorption and reemission effects on the emission spectrum of photoluminescence in right-angle excitation—detection configuration

A theoretical approach based on differential radiative transport is proposed to quantitatively analyze the self-absorption and reemission effects on the emission spectrum for right angle excitation—detection photoluminescence measurements, and the wavelength dependence of the reemission effect is taken into account. Simulations and experiments are performed using rhodamine 6G solutions in ethanol as model samples. It is shown that the self-absorption effect is the dominant effect on the detected spectrum by inducing pseudo red-shift and reducing total intensity; whereas the reemission effect partly compensates for signal decrease and also results in an apparent signal gain at the wavelengths without absorption. Both effects decrease with the decrease in the sample concentration and the propagation distance of the emission light inside the sample. We therefore suggest that diluted solutions are required for accurate photoluminescence spectrum measurements and photoluminescence-based measurements.