Cerulean-Venus mixture

As mentioned previously, the complex emission spectrum F (l) of samples containing multiple fluorophores is assumed to be the linear sum of individual component spectra Ffl), F2(X), FfX), weighted by their abundance xu x2, x3. Let Fj(X) and F2(X) be the reference emission spectra of pure samples of fluorophore (e.g., Cerulean and Venus). The term reference emission spectra is used because these spectra describe the emission at excitation wavelength /. x of a defined concentration of fluorophore (e.g., 10 /rM) acquired using the same excitation light intensity as was used to acquire an emission spectra of an unknown sample mixture. Under these conditions, the shape and magnitude of the fluorophore mixture spectra will be ... 

If reference emission spectra of a set of pure fluorophores are available, and if an emission spectrum of an unknown mixture of any combination of these fluorophores is acquired under the same conditions, this equation can be used to determine the abundance of the different fluorophores in the mixture. The use of this equation to determine the abundance of the fluorophores present is called linear unmixing. To illustrate the basis of linear unmixing, we will first use this equation to analyze the emission spectra of the mix capillary containing an unknown mixture of Cerulean and Venus depicted in Fig. 8.1. The unmixing approach we describe will utilize reasonable guesses for the values of x1 (representing the abundance of Cerulean) and x2 (representing the abundance of... 

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