The ratio between the useful energy delivered or bound and the energy supplied, i.e. energy output/energy input. It is also used in the sense of a quantitative measure of the relative rate of a given step involving a species with respect to the sum of the rates of all of the parallel steps which depopulate that species.
Source:
PAC, 1996, 68, 2223
(Glossary of terms used in photochemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1996))
on page 2238
