Energy quantum yield

In this chapter, we have described the fundamental parameters that should be obtained when characterising an electronic, singlet or triplet, excited state and how to determine them experimentally including methodologies and required equipment. These characteristics include electronic energy, quantum yields, lifetimes and number and type of species in the excited state. Within this last context, i.e., when excited state reactions give rise to additional species in the excited state we have explored several excited state kinetic schemes, found to be present when excimers, exciplexes are formed and (intra and intermolecular) proton transfer occurs. This includes a complete formalism (with equations) for the steady-state and dynamic approaches for two and three-state systems, from where all the rate constants can be obtained. Additionally, we have explored additional recent developments in photophysics the competition between vibrational relaxation and photochemistry, and the non-discrete analysis (stretched-exponential) of fluorescence decays. 

The blue luminescence observed during cool flames is said to arise from electronically excited formaldehyde (60,69). The high energy required indicates radical— radical reactions are producing hot molecules. Quantum yields appear to be very low (10 to 10 ) (81). Cool flames never deposit carbon, in contrast to hot flames which emit much more intense, yellowish light and may deposit carbon (82). 

Fig. 13.11. A schematic drawing of the potential energy surfaces for the photochemical reactions of stilbene. Approximate branching ratios and quantum yields for the important processes are indicated. In this figure, the ground- and excited-state barrier heights are drawn to scale representing the best available values, as are the relative energies of the ground states of Z- and E -stilbene 4a,4b-dihydrophenanthrene (DHP). [Reproduced from R. J. Sension, S. T. Repinec, A. Z. Szarka, and R. M. Hochstrasser, J. Chem. Phys. 98 6291 (1993) by permission of the American Institute of Physics.]...

In bioluminescence and chemiluminescence reactions, light is emitted when the energy level of light emitter molecules falls from the excited state to the ground state. The quantum yield Q of the substance A is given by ... 

Figure 3. Energy diagram for 1064 nm excitation of PuFg(g). The 5f electron states of PuF6 are shown at the left. The solid arrows Indicate photon absorption or emission processes. The wavy arrows indicate nonradiative processes by which excited states of PuF6 are lost. Comparison of observed fluorescence photon yields versus the fluorescence quantum yield expected for the 4550 cm" state indicate that the PuFg state initially populated following 1064 nm excitation may dissociate as shown.

FPY and FQY—See Fluorescence photon and quantum yield Free energy of extraction of Am(III) by carbamoylmethylphosphoryl... 

Between 1923 and 1927, the concepts of quantum efficiency (number of photons emitted divided by number of photons absorbed by a sample) and quantum yield (fraction of excited molecules that emit) had been defined and values determined for many compounds by Vavilov (34). The quantum yield indicates the extent that other energy loss mechanisms compete with emission in an excited molecule. Although the quantum yield is influenced by the molecular environment of the emitter, for a given environment it depends on the nature of the emitting compound and is independent of concentration and excitation wavelength, at least at low concentrations (35). Tlius, it serves as another measurable parameter that can be used to identify the compounds in a sample and also, because of its sensitivity to the surroundings of the luminophore, to probe the environment of the emitter. 

The fluorescent lifetime of chlorophyll in vivo was first measured in 1957, independently by Brody and Rabinowitch (62) using pulse methods, and by Dmitrievskyand co-workers (63) using phase modulation methods. Because the measured quantum yield was lower than that predicted from the measured lifetime, it was concluded that much of the chlorophyll molecule was non-fluorescent, suggesting that energy transfer mechanisms were the means of moving absorbed energy to reactive parts of the molecule. 

Definition and Uses of Standards. In the context of this paper, the term "standard" denotes a well-characterized material for which a physical parameter or concentration of chemical constituent has been determined with a known precision and accuracy. These standards can be used to check or determine (a) instrumental parameters such as wavelength accuracy, detection-system spectral responsivity, and stability (b) the instrument response to specific fluorescent species and (c) the accuracy of measurements made by specific Instruments or measurement procedures (assess whether the analytical measurement process is in statistical control and whether it exhibits bias). Once the luminescence instrumentation has been calibrated, it can be used to measure the luminescence characteristics of chemical systems, including corrected excitation and emission spectra, quantum yields, decay times, emission anisotropies, energy transfer, and, with appropriate standards, the concentrations of chemical constituents in complex S2unples. 

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