Excited state absorption spectra

Uranyl ion in perchlorate media Absorption spectra excited state U02 + 171... 

The atomic absorption spectrum for Na is shown in Figure 10.19 and is typical of that found for most atoms. The most obvious feature of this spectrum is that it consists of a few, discrete absorption lines corresponding to transitions between the ground state (the 3s atomic orbital) and the 3p and 4p atomic orbitals. Absorption from excited states, such as that from the 3p atomic orbital to the 4s or 3d atomic orbital, which are included in the energy level diagram in Figure 10.18, are too weak to detect. Since the... 

Fig. 15.8. Schematic one-dimensional illustration of electronic predissociation. The photon is assumed to excite simultaneously both excited states, leading to a structureless absorption spectrum for state 1 and a discrete spectrum for state 2, provided there is no coupling between these states. The resultant is a broad spectrum with sharp superimposed spikes. However, if state 2 is coupled to the dissociative state, the discrete absorption lines turn into resonances with lineshapes that depend on the strength of the coupling between the two excited electronic states. Two examples are schematically drawn on the right-hand side (weak and strong coupling). Due to interference between the non-resonant and the resonant contributions to the spectrum the resonance lineshapes can have a more complicated appearance than shown here (Lefebvre-Brion and Field 1986 ch.6). In the first case, the autocorrelation function S(t) shows a long sequence of recurrences, while in the second case only a single recurrence with small amplitude is developed. The diffuseness of the resonances or vibrational structures is a direct measure of the electronic coupling strength.

We also have made a prediction of the absorption and emission spectra for the reverse reaction Na + KCl, since a quite different result is expected for the endothermic excited state reaction. Fig. 5 is the theoretical absorption and emission spectra. The intensity of absorption decreases as x increases. This is attributed to the behavior of the crossing seam accompanied with a shift of x that is, contrary to the normal K + NaCl reaction, the crossing seams move to the product side as x becomes longer and the chance of crossing decreases. The intensity of emission increases with the increase of x from 650 to 750 nm. However at 800 and 850 nm, the intensity reaches an upper limit as a result of the decrease in the total number of trajectories excited, since almost all the trajectories that make a transition (corresponds to absorption) become excited-state reactive. Thus a quite different emission spectrum is predicted for the reverse reaction, and this emission spectrum reflects to a large extent the transition state spectroscopy. 

The interpretation of emission spectra is somewhat different but similar to that of absorption spectra. The intensity observed m a typical emission spectrum is a complicated fiinction of the excitation conditions which detennine the number of excited states produced, quenching processes which compete with emission, and the efficiency of the detection system. The quantities of theoretical interest which replace the integrated intensity of absorption spectroscopy are the rate constant for spontaneous emission and the related excited-state lifetime. 

Another feature of the spectrum shown in Figure 10.19 is the narrow width of the absorption lines, which is a consequence of the fixed difference in energy between the ground and excited states. Natural line widths for atomic absorption, which are governed by the uncertainty principle, are approximately 10 nm. Other contributions to broadening increase this line width to approximately 10 nm. 

Because of the relatively high population of the u" = 0 level the v" = 0 progression is likely to be prominent in the absorption spectrum. In emission the relative populations of the i/ levels depend on the method of excitation. In a low-pressure discharge, in which there are not many collisions to provide a channel for vibrational deactivation, the populations may be somewhat random. However, higher pressure may result in most of the molecules being in the v = 0 state and the v = 0 progression being prominent. 

By obtaining values for B in various vibrational states within the ground electronic state (usually from an emission spectrum) or an excited electronic state (usually from an absorption spectrum) the vibration-rotation interaction constant a and, more importantly, B may be obtained, from Equation (7.92), for that electronic state. From B the value of for that state easily follows. 

The resulting PL intensity depends on the absorption of the incident light and the mechanism of coupling between the initial excited states and the relaxed excited states that take part in emission. The spectrum is similar to an absorption spectrum and is useful because it includes higher excited levels that normally do not appear in the thermalized PL emission spectra. Some transitions are apparent in PLE spectra from thin layers that would only be seen in absorption data if the sample thickness were orders of magnitude greater. 

Many other measures of solvent polarity have been developed. One of the most useful is based on shifts in the absorption spectrum of a reference dye. The positions of absorption bands are, in general, sensitive to solvent polarity because the electronic distribution, and therefore the polarity, of the excited state is different from that of the ground state. The shift in the absorption maximum reflects the effect of solvent on the energy gap between the ground-state and excited-state molecules. An empirical solvent polarity measure called y(30) is based on this concept. Some values of this measure for common solvents are given in Table 4.12 along with the dielectric constants for the solvents. It can be seen that there is a rather different order of polarity given by these two quantities. 

Tabic 6-5. Comparison of (he aK vibrational modes in the ground and excited states. The totally symmetric vibrations of the ground stale measured in tire Raman spectrum excited in pre-resonance conditions 3S] and in the fluorescence spectrum ]62 ate compared with the results of ab initio calculations [131- The corresponding vibrations in the excited stale arc measured in die absorption spectrum. 

Since an atom of a given element gives rise to a definite, characteristic line spectrum, it follows that there are different excitation states associated with different elements. The consequent emission spectra involve not only transitions from excited states to the ground state, e.g. E3 to E0, E2 to E0 (indicated by the full lines in Fig. 21.2), but also transisions such as E3 to E2, E3 to 1( etc. (indicated by the broken lines). Thus it follows that the emission spectrum of a given element may be quite complex. In theory it is also possible for absorption of radiation by already excited states to occur, e.g. E, to 2, E2 to E3, etc., but in practice the ratio of excited to ground state atoms is extremely small,... 

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