The effect of UV irradiation on uracil thin layer measured by optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 9, 2026

Molecular Beam Mass Spectrometry With Tunable Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) Synchrotron Radiation
Published on: October 30, 2012
R Horváth1, T Kerékgyártó, G Csúcs
1Department of Biological Physics, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary.
Abstract:
The polycrystalline uracil thin-layer dosimeter is a well-established method to monitor the biological effects of the environmental ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It is based on the optical density (OD) decrease of the uracil layer in the UV absorption band due to photodimerization of the crystal caused by UV irradiation. In the present study, we report measurements made with optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS) to characterize the changes in the optogeometrical parameters of the uracil layer caused by an artificial UV source. It is shown that UV irradiation causes a decrease in the refractive index and an increase of the optical anisotropy. The determined kinetic parameters of the UV dose-sensor response curves correlate well with results of OD measurements, but the sensitivity of OWLS is about ten times higher. The results show that OWLS is capable of analyzing the UV response of the uracil layer and opens the way for dosimetrical applications.
More Related Videos
12:19Uracil-DNA Glycosylase Assay by Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: April 22, 2022
05:21The Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation on the Chemical Bath Deposition of Bis(thiourea) Cadmium Chloride Crystals and the Subsequent CdS Obtention
Published on: August 30, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Ultraviolet and Visible (UV–Vis) Spectroscopy: Overview
UV–Vis Spectrometers
UV–Vis Spectrum
The UV–Vis spectrum of a molecule is the plot of its absorbance versus wavelength. The plot is drawn by taking molar absorptivity (ε) or log ε on the y-axis (ordinate)...
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Molecular Electronic Transitions
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Beer–Lambert Law
UV–Vis Spectroscopy of Conjugated Systems
One of the factors influencing λmax is the extent of conjugation in the...