Excited State Absorption in Dendrimers Incorporating Diphenylaminodiphenylpolyene Moieties Via Photo-Induced Electron Transfer

Abstract

AbstractDuring the past decade there has been considerable progress in the design of new organic materials for optical power limiting (OPL) applications. Among the more promising of the new material approaches are reverse saturable absorbers (RSAs) which derive their optical limiting capability from the photogeneration of highly absorbing transient excited states. Most of the previous research in this field has focused on excited state absorption from singlet or triplet states whose cross-sections are greater than the original S0 – S1 transition- However, other transient states, such as polaronic radical ions or bipolaronic diions, formed by photo-induced electron transfer, are attractive alternatives. We have initiated studies to determine if these transient charge states can be photo-generated efficiently, and if their excited states absorption and lifetimes are acceptable for current optical power limiting requirements.