Characterization and measurement results of fluorescence in absorption optical filter glass

Optical filter glasses (absorption filters) are for example used for spectroscopy. The filter glass absorbs the unwanted light and has a nearly angle independent spectral characteristic. The absorbed light can lead to (self-) fluorescence, i. e. the filter glass itself re-emits fluorescence light at a different wavelength - compared to the incident (excitation) light. This fluorescence light can disturb the measurement signal. In order to obtain an optimized optical design the fluorescence properties of the glasses must be known. By knowing fluorescence properties one can design a system with a good signal-to-noise ratio. We will present our measurement set-up for fluorescence measurements of optical filter glass. This set-up was used to obtain fluorescence measurement results for different optical filter glasses. For the first time we present results on the fluorescence level for different optical filter glasses. In addition the effect of excitation wavelength on the fluorescence level will be studied. Besides other factors, fluorescence depends on impurities of the raw material of the glass melt. Due to small fluctuations of the raw material used for the glass production the fluorescence of the same filter glass type can fluctuate from melt-to-melt. Thus, results from different melts will be shown for the same filter glass type.