Remote sensing of aquatic PAHs with a fiber optical sensor based on time-resolved fluorescence

Fiberoptical sensors are a promising analytical tool for on line and in situ detection of trace contaminants in freshwater ecosystems. The described fiber optical sensor is based on time- resolved, laser-induced fluorescence and allows the detection of PAHs in the ng 1-1 range with a fiber length of 50 m. The application of chemometrical methods to the large multidimensional spectra permits the extraction of the temporal and spectral characteristics of PAHs from multicomponent mixtures.