Flower petal fluorescence

Further spectroscopy of the fluorescence of a white geranium and a black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata) petal under 368nm and 404nm excitation. The geranium petal clearly contains chlorophyll but the strength of the 680nm peak relative to the companion at 740nm indicates a very low surface density. The absence of chlorophyll emission in the black-eyed Susan petal suggests that signal in the previous post resulted from diffuse emission from the bract which was illuminated by the LED but not by the laser.

The dark blue line spectrum reveals the nature of the lovely blue colour of the fluorescing flower shown in the insert. The laser favours the chlorophyll emission.

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