Femtosecond pump-push-probe and pump-dump-probe spectroscopy of conjugated polymers: new insight and opportunities

Publication Date (Web): September 3, 2014Conjugated polymers are an important class of soft materials that exhibit a wide range of applications. The excited states of conjugated polymers, often referred to as excitons, can either deactivate to yield the ground state or dissociate in the presence of an electron acceptor to form charge carriers. These interesting properties give rise to their luminescence and the photovoltaic effect. Femtosecond spectroscopy is a crucial tool for studying conjugated polymers. Recently, more elaborate experimental configurations utilizing three optical pulses, namely, pump–push–probe and pump–dump–probe, have been employed to investigate the properties of excitons and charge-transfer states of conjugated polymers. These studies have revealed new insight into femtosecond torsional relaxation and detrapping of bound charge pairs of conjugated polymers. This Perspective highlights (1) the recent achievements by several research groups in using pump–push–probe and pump–dump–probe spectroscopy to study conjugated polymers and (2) future opportunities and potential challenges of these techniques.Tak W. Ke