title: Femtosecond Dynamics of Excited-State Evolution in
abstract: Time-resolved absorption spectroscopy on the femtosecond time scale has been used to monitor the earliest events associated with excited-state relaxation in tris-(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II). The data reveal dynamics associated with the temporal evolution of the Franck-Condon state to the lowest energy excited state of this molecule. The process is essentially complete in approximately 300 femtoseconds after the initial excitation. This result is discussed with regard to reformulating long-held notions about excited-state relaxation, as well as its implication for the importance of non-equilibrium excited-state processes in understanding and designing molecular-based electron transfer, artificial photosynthetic, and photovoltaic assemblies in which compounds of this class are currently playing a key role.
authors.affiliation: N. H. Damrauer, T. R. Boussie, J. K. McCusker, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. G. Cerullo and A. Yeh, Material Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. C. V. Shank, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, and Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Damrauer
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cerullo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Boussie
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Shank
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: McCusker