Fibre optical sensors for detection of atmospheric and hydrospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Two fibre optical sensor designs are described for on-line and in situ detection of both particle-bound and water-dissolved aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with fibre length >10 m. The time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy described here permits detection limits in the ng l -1 and μg m -3 range, respectively. Analytical figure of merits are given for a number of environmentally represent algorithm for decomposition of time-resolved fluorescence emission spectra by factor analysis is proposed, which allows identification of the characteristic temporal and spectral profiles from multicomponent mixtures of PAHs