This technical report describes principles of measurement for the determination of the spectral and temporal characteristics of pulsed optical radiation sources. It contains detailed information on the characteristics of the individual elements of the apparatus required for accurate and precise measurement, a discussion on sources of error and a section on terminology, much of which is specific to this area of application. Finally, as an example of the application of the principles discussed, the details of a practical method of measuring the spectral energy distribution of a single flash from a pulsed xenon flash source are described in an appendix.

The report contains 27 pages, 6 figures and 1 table.