R. Dubest et al., COMPUTER-CONTROLLED SYSTEM DESIGNED TO MEASURE PHOTODEGRADATION OF PHOTOCHROMIC COMPOUNDS, Review of scientific instruments, 64(7), 1993, pp. 1803-1808
In this paper, we describe a new, entirely computer-controlled apparat
us designed for degradation studies of photochromic compounds. Photode
gradation can be performed in three different ways using, in addition
to the usual flash mode, the cyclic and continuous modes which more cl
osely simulate daylight exposure conditions. In each mode, the ''fatig
ue resistance'' parameter is computed. Moreover, the spectrokinetic pa
rameters of photomerocyanine species can be obtained from the kinetic
mode. Due particularly to the fully computer-controlled experimental s
etup, the between-day reproducibility of the initial absorbance and fa
tigue resistance determinations are better than 4% and 6%, respectivel
y. Owing to the modular design of the menu-driven software, written in
C language, the apparatus is very flexible and easy to use.