AAAR 35th Annual Conference October 17 - October 21, 2016 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Fluorescence Calibration Method for Single-particle Aerosol Fluorescence Instruments
ELLIS SHIPLEY ROBINSON, Ru-Shan Gao, Joshua P. Schwarz, David Fahey, Anne Perring, CU-CIRES - NOAA ESRL
Abstract Number: 714 Working Group: Single Aerosol Particle Studies - Techniques and Instrumentation
Abstract Real-time, single particle fluorescence instruments used to detect atmospheric bioaerosol particles are increasingly common, yet no standard fluorescence calibration method exists for this technique. This limits the utility of these instruments as quantitative tools and complicates comparisons between different measurement campaigns. To address this need we have developed a method to produce size-selected particles with a known mass of fluorophore, which we use to calibrate the fluorescence detection of a Wide-band Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor (WIBS-4A). We use mixed tryptophan-ammonium sulfate particles to calibrate one detector (FL1; excitation = 280nm; emission = 310-400nm), and pure quinine particles to calibrate the other (FL2; excitation = 280nm; emission = 420-650 nm). This procedure allows users to set the detector gains to achieve a known absolute response, calculate the limits of detection for a given instrument, improve repeatability of instrumental set-up, and facilitate intercomparisons between different instruments. We recommend calibration of single-particle fluorescence instruments using these methods.