title: Time-resolved studies of photoinduced birefringence in azobenzene dye-doped polymer films.
abstract: We measured transient photoinduced birefringence (delta n) in various azobenzene dye films by pumping with a nanosecond pulse at 532 nm and probing at 633 nm. The switch-on times for the photoinduced birefringence range from nanoseconds to milliseconds and are systematically related with the lowest optical transition energies for those films. Moreover, our results suggest that the transient photoinduced birefringence measurement is a convenient way to determine the relative energies of pi-pi(*) and n-pi(*) states in azo-based materials.
authors.affiliation: College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. csheng@optics.arizona.edu
authors.forename: ChuanXiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Norwood
authors.forename: Jiafu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jayan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Yinglan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tabirian
authors.forename: Diane M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Steeves
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Kimball
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peyghambarian