Paul C. DeRose

Paul C. DeRose is a physical and analytical chemist associated with fluorescence measurement standards and chemical-assay validation at NIST. His originating staff biography describes research in molecular excited-state dynamics using laser spectroscopy, followed by work in fluorescence standards and microscopy.^[ref]

DeRose authored the 2007 NISTIR 7458, Standard Guide to Fluorescence - Instrument Calibration and Validation by Paul C. DeRose. Its cover supplies that title and byline. The guide distinguishes calibration of detection-system spectral response from correction of excitation-beam intensity, and describes relative fluorescence quantum yield methods.^[ref]

An original measurement model explains why those corrections are distinct. Let true emission spectrum be $F(\lambda )$ and detector-system response be $R(\lambda )$, giving recorded signal $S(\lambda )=R(\lambda )F(\lambda )$ after a specified background subtraction. If two wavelengths have the same true emission but responses $1$ and $0.5$, their recorded signals differ by a factor of two. That apparent spectral imbalance is instrumental, not evidence that the sample emitted half as much at the second wavelength.

Changing excitation wavelength introduces another factor: the excitation delivered to the sample can itself vary. Correcting emission response alone cannot determine how many excitation photons were absorbed. DeRose's guide makes this separation useful for comparing spectra and relative yields. A valid comparison specifies sample absorbance, corrected emission and excitation conditions instead of treating raw fluorescence counts as an intrinsic material property.