Optical Modification of a Single Impurity Molecule in a Solid
Abstract
The possibility of obtaining information about solids on a truly microscopic scale has stimulated several advances in the optical detection and spectroscopy of single impurity centers in solids. For the system composed of pentacene impurity molecules in the crystal terphenyl, absorption and fluorescence excitation studies at liquid helium temperatures have led to direct observations of the lifetime-limited homogeneous linewidth of a single pentacene molecule as well as surprising observation of spontaneous spectral diffusion in a crystal. Spectral diffusion, or changes in the resonance frequency of an impurity molecule with time as a result of structural relaxation processes (two- level system (TLS) transitions) is generally expected in amorphous hosts. Using perylene impurity molecules in poly(ethylene), we have observed the optical spectra of single molecules in a polymeric host for the first time. At 1.5K, individual perylene molecules show the expected spectral diffusion; moreover, we observe light-induced changes in resonance frequency, i.e., persistent spectral hole-burning, which allows one to envision optical storage on the single- molecule level.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 17, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA243750
Entities
People
- T. Basche
- W. E. Moerner
Organizations
- International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)