What’s a Fluometer?

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A fluorometer is a special type of optical device usually used in laboratory settings, capable of measuring the fluorescent quality of biological or mineral samples. Fluorescence occurs when a substance emits visible light and appears to glow after being exposed to some type of radiation, whether it is visible light itself or high-energy radiation such as X-rays. This property is similar to phosphorescence, which is a low-temperature light emission of an accumulation of energy or radiation from a substance. The fluorometer can be a hand-held device or a tabletop unit, and its sensitivity can be tuned to specific wavelengths of light using filters and according to what is being studied.

The design of any typical fluorometer has several key components. It has an input source for normal visible light and this light is passed through an excitation filter which allows only specific wavelengths to impact a sample cell of the material under test. When this material, organic or inorganic, is bombarded with these controlled wavelengths of light, it fluoresces, emitting its own characteristic light which is then passed through an emission filter. The emissions are read by a light detector which produces a reading to let the observer know how the sample is reacting and what its contents are.

While fluorometer detection is based on universal principles fundamental to fluorescence, there are several applications and unique adaptations for the devices. One of the main uses is as a chlorophyll fluorometer, which is calibrated to measure the environmental fluorescent quality of plants. Plants do not absorb all the light they receive from the sun and reflect some of it into the surrounding environment through the green chlorophyll pigment contained in their cellular structures. Measurement of this fluorescence can be useful in determining plant health and is instrumental in agricultural and botanical research.

Portable fluorimeter devices are also common to medicine and biological research. Liquid samples can be given traces of bacterial enzymes that cause chemical reactions and fluorescence in the solution to detect the presence of other bacteria in the initial breeding colony within minutes. The same devices can be used to detect fluorescent inorganic molecules such as lead up to one part per trillion. Some doctors recommend using them to detect similar minerals such as zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP), which can indicate iron deficiency in patients. Fluorometer sensing is also common to geological research, for example in analyzing samples to determine whether uranium deposits are in high enough concentrations for mining operations to take place.

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