Fluorescence, excitation

While a laser beam can be used for traditional absorption spectroscopy by measuring / and 7q, the strength of laser spectroscopy lies in more specialized experiments which often do not lend themselves to such measurements. Other techniques are connnonly used to detect the absorption of light from the laser beam. A coimnon one is to observe fluorescence excited by the laser. The total fluorescence produced is nonnally proportional to the amount of light absorbed. It can be used as a measurement of concentration to detect species present in extremely small amounts. Or a measurement of the fluorescence intensity as the laser frequency is scaimed can give an absorption spectrum. This may allow much higher resolution than is easily obtained with a traditional absorption spectrometer. In other experiments the fluorescence may be dispersed and its spectrum detennined with a traditional spectrometer. In suitable cases this could be the emission from a single electronic-vibrational-rotational level of a molecule and the experimenter can study how the spectrum varies with level. 

For molecules exposed to the intensity of sunlight at the earth s surface this would suggest that the molecule might be excited once in the age of the universe. However, the probability is proportional to the square of the light intensity. For a molecule exposed to a pulsed laser focused to a small spot, the probability of being excited by one pulse may be easily observable by fluorescence excitation or multiphoton ionization teclnhques. 

Figure Bl.1.4. Two-photon fluorescence excitation spectrum of naphthalene. Reprinted from [35], Courtesy, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, 7 West Patel Nagar, New Dehli, 110008, India.

Figure B2.3.15. Laser fluorescence excitation spectrum of the A S -X ff (1,3) band for the OH product, in the V = 3 vibrational level, from tire H + NO2 reaction [44]- (By pemrission from AIP.)...

This book presents a detailed exposition of angular momentum theory in quantum mechanics, with numerous applications and problems in chemical physics. Of particular relevance to the present section is an elegant and clear discussion of molecular wavefiinctions and the detennination of populations and moments of the rotational state distributions from polarized laser fluorescence excitation experiments. 

Figure Cl.5.2. Fluorescence excitation spectra (cps = counts per second) of pentacene in /i-teriDhenyl at 1.5 K. (A) Broad scan of the inhomogeneously broadened electronic origin. The spikes are repeatable features each due to a different single molecule. The laser detuning is relative to the line centre at 592.321 nm. (B) Expansion of a 2 GHz region of this scan showing several single molecules. (C) Low-power scan of a single molecule at 592.407 nm showing the lifetime-limited width of 7.8 MHz and a Lorentzian fit. Reprinted with pennission from Moemer [198]. Copyright 1994 American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Figure Cl.5.8. Spectral jumping of a single molecule of terrylene in polyethylene at 1.5 K. The upper trace displays fluorescence excitation spectra of tire same single molecule taken over two different 20 s time intervals, showing tire same molecule absorbing at two distinctly different frequencies. The lower panel plots tire peak frequency in tire fluorescence excitation spectmm as a function of time over a 40 min trajectory. The molecule undergoes discrete jumps among four (briefly five) different resonant frequencies during tliis time period. Arrows represent scans during which tire molecule had jumped entirely outside tire 10 GHz scan window. Adapted from...

The polarization properties of single-molecule fluorescence excitation spectra have been explored and utilized to detennine botli tlie molecular transition dipole moment orientation and tlie deptli of single pentacene molecules in a /7-teriDhenyl crystal, taking into account tlie rotation of tlie polarization of tlie excitation light by tlie birefringent... 

Finally, tlie ability to optically address single molecules is enabling some beautiful experiments in quantum optics. The non-Poissonian photon arrival time distributions expected tlieoretically for single molecules have been observed directly, botli antibunching at short times [112] and bunching on longer time scales [6, 112 and 113]. The fluorescence excitation spectra of single molecules bound to spherical microcavities have been examined as a probe... 

Ambrose W P, Basche T and Moerner W E 1991 Detection and spectroscopy of single pentacene molecules in a p-terphenyl crystal by means of fluorescence excitation J. Phys. Chem 95 7150-63... 

Guttler F, Sepiol J, Plakhotnik T, Mitterdorfer A, Renn A and Wild U P 1993 Single molecule spectroscopy fluorescence excitation spectra with polarized light J. Lumin. 56 29-38... 

The example we consider is the two-photon fluorescence excitation specfrum of 1,4-difluorobenzene, shown in Figure 9.29 and belonging to the >2 point group. The transition between the ground and first singlet excited state is Table A. 3 2 in Appendix A shows that 82 = r(T ) and, therefore, according to Equation (7.122), the electronic transition is allowed as a one-photon process polarized along the y axis which is in-plane and... 

Figure 9.29 Two-photon fluorescence excitation spectrum of 1,4-difluorobenzene. The upper and lower traces are obtained with plane and circularly polarized radiation, respectively, but the differences are not considered here. (Reproduced, with permission, Ifom Robey, M. J. and Schlag, E. W., Chem. Phys., 30, 9, 1978)...

Nevertheless, 1,4-difluorobenzene has a rich two-photon fluorescence excitation spectrum, shown in Figure 9.29. The position of the forbidden Og (labelled 0-0) band is shown. All the vibronic transitions observed in the band system are induced by non-totally symmetric vibrations, rather like the one-photon case of benzene discussed in Section 7.3.4.2(b). The two-photon transition moment may become non-zero when certain vibrations are excited. 

Electronic transitions in molecules in supersonic jets may be investigated by intersecting the jet with a tunable dye laser in the region of molecular flow and observing the total fluorescence intensity. As the laser is tuned across the absorption band system a fluorescence excitation spectrum results which strongly resembles the absorption spectrum. The spectrum... 

Figure 9.46 shows an example of a fluorescence excitation spectmm of hydrogen bonded dimers of x-tetrazine (1,2,4,5-tetraazabenzene). The pressure of x-tetrazine seeded into helium carrier gas at 4 atm pressure was about 0.001 atm. Expansion was through a 100 pm diameter nozzle. A high-resolution (0.005 cm ) dye laser crossed the supersonic jet 5 mm downstream from the nozzle. 

Figure 9.46 Rotational structure of the Ojj bands in the fluorescence excitation spectra of s-tetrazine dimers at about 552 run. Bottom Ojj band of planar dimer. Middle Ojj band of T-shaped dimer with transition in monomer unit in stem of T. Top Ojj band of T-shaped dimer with transition in monomer unit in top of T. (Reproduced, with permission, from Haynam, C. A., Brumbaugh, D. V and Levy, D. H., J. Chem. Phys., 79, f58f, f983)...

In a skimmed supersonic jet, the parallel nature of the resulting beam opens up the possibility of observing spectra with sub-Doppler resolution in which the line width due to Doppler broadening (see Section 2.3.4) is reduced. This is achieved by observing the specttum in a direction perpendicular to that of the beam. The molecules in the beam have zero velocity in the direction of observation and the Doppler broadening is reduced substantially. Fluorescence excitation spectra can be obtained with sub-Doppler rotational line widths by directing the laser perpendicular to the beam. The Doppler broadening is not removed completely because both the laser beam and the supersonic beam are not quite parallel. 

Fluorescence excitation spectra of fairly large molecules in a supersonic jet are simplified, vibrationally, due to depopulation of low-lying vibrational levels in the ground electronic... 

Figure 9.48 Part of the fluorescence excitation spectrum of 1,2,4,5-tetrafluorobenzene in a supersonic jet. (Reproduced, with permission, from Okuyama, K., Kakinuma, T, Fujii, M., Mikami, N. and Ito, M., J. Phys. Chem., 90, 3948, f986)...

New to the fourth edition are the topics of laser detection and ranging (LIDAR), cavity ring-down spectroscopy, femtosecond lasers and femtosecond spectroscopy, and the use of laser-induced fluorescence excitation for stmctural investigations of much larger molecules than had been possible previously. This latter technique takes advantage of two experimental quantum leaps the development of very high resolution lasers in the visible and ultraviolet regions and of the supersonic molecular beam. 

In such reactions the substantial heat of the simultaneous (concerted) formation of the carbonyl groups produced meets the energy requirement (8,16). In the reaction shown (8), the product is the highly fluorescent excited state of 9,10-diphenylanthracene [1499-10-1] (2). It is not necessary for the new carbonyl groups to be a part of the stmcture of the excited product, only that the excited state be formed synchronously with two carbonyl groups. 

Fluorescent Dyestuffs. Very few dyes are of use in making daylight-fluorescent products. Of the dyes discovered up to 1920, only the brilliant ted and salmon dyes of the rhodamine and rosamine classes ate used in fluorescent materials in the 1990s. The first of these, Rhodamine B, was discovered in 1877. Fluorescence excited by both uv and visible light components in daylight was formally recognized as a notable property of certain dyed fabrics by the 1920s (1). 

Spectroscopic methods such as uv and fluorescence have rehed on the polyene chromophore of vitamin A as a basis for analysis. Indirectly, the classical Carr-Price colorimetric test also exploits this feature and measures the amount of a transient blue complex at 620 nm which is formed when vitamin A is dehydrated in the presence of Lewis acids. For uv measurements of retinol, retinyl acetate, and retinyl palmitate, analysis is done at 325 nm. More sensitive measurements can be obtained by fluorescence. Excitation is done at 325 nm and emission at 470 nm. Although useful, all of these methods suffer from the fact that the method is not specific and any compound which has spectral characteristics similar to vitamin A will assay like the vitamin... 

Difference in optical properties can be used as the basis to separate solids in a mixture. Optic properties include color, light reflectance, opacity, and fluorescence excited by ultraviolet rays or x-rays. Differences in elec trical conductance can also be used for separation. With appropriate sensing, the particles in a moving stream can be sorted by using an air jet or other means to deflect certain particles away from the mainstream (Fig. 19-10). The lower limit of particle size is about... 

Fluorescence spectra were measured at wavelength scanning of tunable dye-laser. In spite of the monochromic excitation the fluorescence spectmm has quite complex composition. Such variety of wavelengths allows to optimize fluorescence excitation and registration for any technological conditions. 

Fig. 36. Laser fluorescence excitation spectrum of 7-azoindole dimer (6.1).

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