Coherent electronic coupling versus localization in individual molecular dimers

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Mar 12;92(10):103001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.103001. Epub 2004 Mar 11.

Abstract

We have investigated electronic excitation transfer in individual molecular dimers by time and spectrally resolved confocal fluorescence microscopy. The single molecule measurements allow for directly probing the distribution of the electronic coupling strengths due to static disorder in the polymer host. We find dimers where the excitation is delocalized (superradiant emission) while for others emission originates from a localized state. Transitions between delocalized and localized states as observed for a given dimer are attributed to structural fluctuations of the guest-host system.