Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The emission of electromagnetic radiation, especially of visible light, stimulated in a substance by the absorption of incident radiation and persisting only as long as the stimulating radiation is continued.
- n. The property of emitting such radiation.
- n. The radiation so emitted.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The property possessed by some transparent substances of becoming self-luminous while they are exposed to the direct action of light-rays. See phosphorescence. It is especially excited by the violet and ultra-violet rays of the spectrum, and is explained by the change in refrangibility (that is, wave-length) of the incident rays by the substance under experiment. Thus, if a beam of sunlight fall upon a solution of esculin or sulphate of quinine, its path through the liquid is marked by a bluish opalescent light. Again, if a paper moistened with the solution is exposed to the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum, it becomes blue, since these rays are diminished in refrangibility so as to become visible; by this means the ultra-violet spectrum (given by prisms of quartz) can be studied. The delicate blue surface-color of some fluor-spar and the yellowish-green surface-color of glass colored with uranium oxid (canary glass) are phenomena of the same nature. For some years previous to 1852 the phenomenon was termed epipolic dispersion.
Wiktionary
- n. The emission of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by a material when stimulated by the absorption of radiation or of a subatomic particle
- n. The light so emitted
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A luminescence emitted by certain substances due to the absorption of radiation at one wavelength, and the almost instantaneous re-emission of radiation at another, usually longer wavelength. The re-radiation stops almost as soon as the incident radiation is halted, thus distinguishing this phenomenon from
phosphorescence , in which re-radiation of light may continue for some time after the incident radiation is halted.
WordNet 3.0
- n. light emitted during absorption of radiation of some other (invisible) wavelength
Etymologies
- fluor(spar) + -escence.
Examples
“In this assay, red blood cells (RBCs) are incubated with a dye, EMA, and the fluorescence is measured in comparison to a control.”
“Additionally, she offered her expertise in fluorescence and lighting measurements in order to improve the method and distinguish between alpha and H-particles, an essential issue in the Cambridge-Vienna controversy.”
“This effect is likely due to selective photobleaching of the red chromophores in DsRed, resulting in observable fluorescence from the green state.”
“The ability to precisely control fluorescence is particular useful when tracking particle movement in a crowded environment.”
“Because glucose displaces the fluorescent molecules, the level of fluorescence is high when bodily glucose levels are low.”
“The probe laser beam could easily penetrate the shock waves without perturbation, and we could image just the fluorescence from the laser-excited ultracold molecules in the zone of silence.”
“They fall through a sheet of laser light and the resulting fluorescence is recorded.”
“The phenomenon received close attention a little earlier, particularly after it was found that the fluorescence is strongly polarized by placing a polarizer between the lamp and the resonance chamber.”
“The system can scan a 96-well microplate, decode barcodes, measure label fluorescence, and display results in only 40 seconds per microwell.”
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