Chain-length dependence of ultrafast internal conversion dynamics in carotenoids: role of the intermediate state

Author

Polli, D. ; Cerullo, G. ; Lanzani, G. ; De Silvestri, S. ; Hashimoto, H. ; Cogdell, R.J.

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

fYear

2005

fDate

12-17 June 2005

Firstpage

166

Abstract

This work presents a full characterization of the IC₂₁ dynamics in carotenoids with different values of N ranging from 5 to 15. To this purpose, a specially developed spectroscopic system is used, combining very high temporal resolution (pulse width less than 20 fs) and broad spectral tunability. For the longer carotenoids (N 9), the measurements reveal the existence of an additional intermediate excited state lying between S₂ and S₁ states. This state enables the explanation of the nonmonotonic dependence of the S₂-S₁ conversion rate on N.

Keywords

biological techniques; excited states; high-speed optical techniques; photosynthesis; IC₂₁ dynamics; broad spectral tunability; carotenoids; chain-length dependence; excited state; intermediate state; internal conversion dynamics; spectroscopic system; temporal resolution; ultrafast dynamics; Biochemistry; Biological control systems; Biomedical optical imaging; Delay; Lighting control; Organisms; Physics; Pigments; Probes; Ultrafast optics;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Quantum Electronics Conference, 2005. EQEC '05. European

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8973-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EQEC.2005.1567337

Filename

1567337