Imaging and spectroscopy of terrylene molecules isolated in vapor-deposited n-alkane matrices Original Research Article

The matrix isolation technique was applied for producing very thin samples of terrylene doped n-alkane solids directly on the surface of a microscope objective. Fluorescence microscopy allowed the study of the spectroscopic properties of many single terrylene molecules in parallel. From images recorded sequentially at different laser excitation frequencies, the spectral line profiles of corresponding zero-phonon absorption lines were measured. For the two matrices n-decane and n-hexane the line width distributions were determined. Under similar excitation conditions, the individual terrylene molecules were `burned outʹ much faster in n-hexane than in n-decane matrices.