TY - JOUR
T1 - Transient grating studies of femtosecond processes in ultra-thin layers of PTCDA
AU - Karki, Khadga
AU - Helms, Gesa
AU - Namboodiri, Mahesh
AU - Wagner, Veit
AU - Fritz, Jürgen
AU - Materny, Arnulf
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - Elementary processes like energy transfer, charge transport, and exciton diffusion in thin films occur on time scales of femtoseconds. Time-resolved photo-electron spectroscopy,1, 2 a technique limited to ultra-high vacuum environment and the proper choice of a substrate, has been used to study ultrafast processes in sub-nanometer thin films so far. Herein we show that a transient (population) grating3 created by the interference of laser pulses can be used to study ultrafast processes in such films under ambient conditions. Our investigations of exciton dynamics in 1.4±0.2 nm and 0.4±0.2 nm thin films, formed by nanocrystals of 3,4,9,10-Perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) on glass and mica, show that the dynamics differ with the crystal size, possibly due to the confinement induced changes in the electronic structure. The technique is sensitive enough to investigate the dynamics in systems, where only 20 % of the surface is covered by nano-crystals. We expect such an optical technique that is sensitive enough to study dynamics in few to sub-nanometer thin layers under ambient conditions to become important in investigating ultrafast dynamics on surfaces, interfaces, functionalized materials, organic semiconductors, and quantum phenomena in ordered structures of reduced dimensions, such as quantum dots and graphene sheets.
AB - Elementary processes like energy transfer, charge transport, and exciton diffusion in thin films occur on time scales of femtoseconds. Time-resolved photo-electron spectroscopy,1, 2 a technique limited to ultra-high vacuum environment and the proper choice of a substrate, has been used to study ultrafast processes in sub-nanometer thin films so far. Herein we show that a transient (population) grating3 created by the interference of laser pulses can be used to study ultrafast processes in such films under ambient conditions. Our investigations of exciton dynamics in 1.4±0.2 nm and 0.4±0.2 nm thin films, formed by nanocrystals of 3,4,9,10-Perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) on glass and mica, show that the dynamics differ with the crystal size, possibly due to the confinement induced changes in the electronic structure. The technique is sensitive enough to investigate the dynamics in systems, where only 20 % of the surface is covered by nano-crystals. We expect such an optical technique that is sensitive enough to study dynamics in few to sub-nanometer thin layers under ambient conditions to become important in investigating ultrafast dynamics on surfaces, interfaces, functionalized materials, organic semiconductors, and quantum phenomena in ordered structures of reduced dimensions, such as quantum dots and graphene sheets.
KW - crystal growth
KW - monolayers
KW - nanoparticles
KW - photophysics
KW - time-resolved spectroscopy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84856372415&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/cphc.201100854
DO - 10.1002/cphc.201100854
M3 - 文章
C2 - 22190482
AN - SCOPUS:84856372415
SN - 1439-4235
VL - 13
SP - 477
EP - 481
JO - ChemPhysChem
JF - ChemPhysChem
IS - 2
ER -