TY - JOUR A1 - Li, Donghai A1 - Shan, Hangyong A1 - Rupprecht, Christoph A1 - Knopf, Heiko A1 - Watanabe, Kenji A1 - Taniguchi, Takashi A1 - Qin, Ying A1 - Tongay, Sefaattin A1 - Nuß, Matthias A1 - Schröder, Sven A1 - Eilenberger, Falk A1 - Höfling, Sven A1 - Schneider, Christian A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Hybridized exciton-photon-phonon states in a transition-metal-dichalcogenide van-der-Waals heterostructure microcavity JF - Physical Review Letters N2 - Excitons in atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been established as an attractive platform to explore polaritonic physics, owing to their enormous binding energies and giant oscillator strength. Basic spectral features of exciton polaritons in TMD microcavities, thus far, were conventionally explained via two-coupled-oscillator models. This ignores, however, the impact of phonons on the polariton energy structure. Here we establish and quantify the threefold coupling between excitons, cavity photons, and phonons. For this purpose, we employ energy-momentum-resolved photoluminescence and spatially resolved coherent two-dimensional spectroscopy to investigate the spectral properties of a high-quality-factor microcavity with an embedded WSe\(_2\) van-der-Waals heterostructure at room temperature. Our approach reveals a rich multi-branch structure which thus far has not been captured in previous experiments. Simulation of the data reveals hybridized exciton-photon-phonon states, providing new physical insight into the exciton polariton system based on layered TMDs. KW - strong coupling KW - laser spectroscopy KW - transition metal dichalcogenide KW - coherent multidimensional spectroscopy KW - exciton Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-351303 UR - https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.087401 SN - 1079-7114 ET - accepted version ER - TY - INPR A1 - Dietzsch, Julia A1 - Jayachandran, Ajay A1 - Mueller, Stefan A1 - Höbartner, Claudia A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Excitonic coupling of RNA-templated merocyanine dimer studied by higher-order transient absorption spectroscopy T2 - Chemical Communications N2 - We report the synthesis and spectroscopic analysis of RNA containing the barbituric acid merocyanine rBAM2 as a nucleobase surrogate. Incorporation into RNA strands by solid-phase synthesis leads to fluorescence enhancement compared to the free chromophore. In addition, linear absorption studies show the formation of an excitonically coupled H-type dimer in the hybridized duplex. Ultrafast third- and fifth-order transient absorption spectroscopy of this non-fluorescent dimer suggests immediate (sub-200 fs) exciton transfer and annihilation due to the proximity of the rBAM2 units. KW - Barbituric Acid Merocyanines KW - Nucleobase Surrogate Incorporation KW - Higher-order Transient Absorption Spectroscopy KW - rBAM2-labeled RNA strands Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-327772 ET - submitted version ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aeschlimann, Martin A1 - Brixner, Tobias A1 - Cinchetti, Mirko A1 - Frisch, Benjamin A1 - Hecht, Bert A1 - Hensen, Matthias A1 - Huber, Bernhard A1 - Kramer, Christian A1 - Krauss, Enno A1 - Loeber, Thomas H. A1 - Pfeiffer, Walter A1 - Piecuch, Martin A1 - Thielen, Philip T1 - Cavity-assisted ultrafast long-range periodic energy transfer between plasmonic nanoantennas JF - Light: Science & Applications N2 - Radiationless energy transfer is at the core of diverse phenomena, such as light harvesting in photosynthesis\(^1\), energy-transfer-based microspectroscopies\(^2\), nanoscale quantum entanglement\(^3\) and photonic-mode hybridization\(^4\). Typically, the transfer is efficient only for separations that are much shorter than the diffraction limit. This hampers its application in optical communication and quantum information processing, which require spatially selective addressing. Here, we demonstrate highly efficient radiationless coherent energy transfer over a distance of twice the excitation wavelength by combining localized and delocalized\(^5\) plasmonic modes. Analogous to the Tavis-Cummings model, two whispering-gallery-mode antennas\(^6\) placed in the foci of an elliptical plasmonic cavity\(^7\) fabricated from single-crystal gold plates act as a pair of oscillators coupled to a common cavity mode. Time-resolved two-photon photoemission electron microscopy (TR 2P-PEEM) reveals an ultrafast long-range periodic energy transfer in accordance with the simulations. Our observations open perspectives for the optimization and tailoring of mesoscopic energy transfer and long-range quantum emitter coupling. KW - chemistry KW - nanocavities KW - nanophotonics and plasmonics KW - photonic devices Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173265 VL - 6 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Fersch, Daniel A1 - Malý, Pavel A1 - Rühe, Jessica A1 - Lisinetskii, Victor A1 - Hensen, Matthias A1 - Würthner, Frank A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Single-Molecule Ultrafast Fluorescence-Detected Pump–Probe Microscopy N2 - We introduce fluorescence-detected pump–probe microscopy by combining a wavelength-tunable ultrafast laser with a confocal scanning fluorescence microscope, enabling access to the femtosecond time scale on the micrometer spatial scale. In addition, we obtain spectral information from Fourier transformation over excitation pulse-pair time delays. We demonstrate this new approach on a model system of a terrylene bisimide (TBI) dye embedded in a PMMA matrix and acquire the linear excitation spectrum as well as time-dependent pump–probe spectra simultaneously. We then push the technique towards single TBI molecules and analyze the statistical distribution of their excitation spectra. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ultrafast transient evolution of several individual molecules, highlighting their different behavior in contrast to the ensemble due to their individual local environment. By correlating the linear and nonlinear spectra, we assess the effect of the molecular environment on the excited-state energy. KW - Fluoreszenz KW - Ultrafast spectroscopy KW - Single-molecule microscopy Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-313485 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Malý, Pavel A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Fluorescence‐Detected Pump–Probe Spectroscopy JF - Angewandte Chemie International Edition N2 - We introduce a new approach to transient spectroscopy, fluorescence‐detected pump–probe (F‐PP) spectroscopy, that overcomes several limitations of traditional PP. F‐PP suppresses excited‐state absorption, provides background‐free detection, removes artifacts resulting from pump–pulse scattering, from non‐resonant solvent response, or from coherent pulse overlap, and allows unique extraction of excited‐state dynamics under certain conditions. Despite incoherent detection, time resolution of F‐PP is given by the duration of the laser pulses, independent of the fluorescence lifetime. We describe the working principle of F‐PP and provide its theoretical description. Then we illustrate specific features of F‐PP by direct comparison with PP, theoretically and experimentally. For this purpose, we investigate, with both techniques, a molecular squaraine heterodimer, core–shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots, and fluorescent protein mCherry. F‐PP is broadly applicable to chemical systems in various environments and in different spectral regimes. KW - femtochemistry KW - FL spectroscopy KW - time-resolved spectroscopy KW - transient absorption Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-244811 VL - 60 IS - 34 SP - 18867 EP - 18875 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roeding, Sebastian A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Coherent two-dimensional electronic mass spectrometry JF - Nature Communications N2 - Coherent two-dimensional (2D) optical spectroscopy has revolutionized our ability to probe many types of couplings and ultrafast dynamics in complex quantum systems. The dynamics and function of any quantum system strongly depend on couplings to the environment. Thus, studying coherent interactions for different environments remains a topic of tremendous interest. Here we introduce coherent 2D electronic mass spectrometry that allows 2D measurements on effusive molecular beams and thus on quantum systems with minimum system-bath interaction and employ this to identify the major ionization pathway of 3d Rydberg states in NO2. Furthermore, we present 2D spectra of multiphoton ionization, disclosing distinct differences in the nonlinear response functions leading to the ionization products. We also realize the equivalent of spectrally resolved transient-absorption measurements without the necessity for acquiring weak absorption changes. Using time-of-flight detection introduces cations as an observable, enabling the 2D spectroscopic study on isolated systems of photophysical and photochemical reactions. KW - Atomic and molecular interactions with photons KW - Excited states KW - Reaction kinetics and dynamics KW - Optical spectroscopy Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-226458 VL - 9 IS - 2519 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Verma, Pramod Kumar A1 - Steinbacher, Andreas A1 - Schmiedel, Alexander A1 - Nuernberger, Patrick A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Excited-state intramolecular proton transfer of 2-acetylindan-1,3-dione studied by ultrafast absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy JF - Structural Dynamics N2 - We employ transient absorption from the deep-UV to the visible region and fluorescence upconversion to investigate the photoinduced excited-state intramolecular proton-transfer dynamics in a biologically relevant drug molecule, 2-acetylindan-1,3-dione. The molecule is a ß-diketone which in the electronic ground state exists as exocyclic enol with an intramolecular H-bond. Upon electronic excitation at 300 nm, the first excited state of the exocyclic enol is initially populated, followed by ultrafast proton transfer (≈160 fs) to form the vibrationally hot endocyclic enol. Subsequently, solvent-induced vibrational relaxation takes place (≈10 ps) followed by decay (≈390 ps) to the corresponding ground state. KW - time resolved spectroscopy KW - ground states KW - fluorescence spectra KW - absorption spectra KW - ultraviolet light KW - hydrogen bonding KW - excited states KW - reaction mechanisms KW - fluorescence KW - solvents Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181301 VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mueller, Stefan A1 - Lüttig, Julian A1 - Malý, Pavel A1 - Ji, Lei A1 - Han, Jie A1 - Moos, Michael A1 - Marder, Todd B. A1 - Bunz, Uwe H. F. A1 - Dreuw, Andreas A1 - Lambert, Christoph A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Rapid multiple-quantum three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy disentangles quantum pathways JF - Nature Communications N2 - Coherent two-dimensional spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing ultrafast quantum dynamics in complex systems. Several variants offer different types of information but typically require distinct beam geometries. Here we introduce population-based three-dimensional (3D) electronic spectroscopy and demonstrate the extraction of all fourth- and multiple sixth-order nonlinear signal contributions by employing 125-fold (1⨯5⨯5⨯5) phase cycling of a four-pulse sequence. Utilizing fluorescence detection and shot-to-shot pulse shaping in single-beam geometry, we obtain various 3D spectra of the dianion of TIPS-tetraazapentacene, a fluorophore with limited stability at ambient conditions. From this, we recover previously unknown characteristics of its electronic two-photon state. Rephasing and nonrephasing sixth-order contributions are measured without additional phasing that hampered previous attempts using noncollinear geometries. We systematically resolve all nonlinear signals from the same dataset that can be acquired in 8 min. The approach is generalizable to other incoherent observables such as external photoelectrons, photocurrents, or photoions. KW - Atomic and molecular interactions with photons KW - Optical spectroscopy Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202529 VL - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Süß, Jasmin A1 - Wehner, Johannes G. A1 - Dostál, Jakub A1 - Engel, Volker A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Mapping of exciton-exciton annihilation in a molecular dimer via fifth-order femtosecond two-dimensional spectroscopy JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters N2 - We present a theoretical study on exciton–exciton annihilation (EEA) in a molecular dimer. This process is monitored using a fifth-order coherent two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy as was recently proposed by Dostál et al. [Nat. Commun. 9, 2466 (2018)]. Using an electronic three-level system for each monomer, we analyze the different paths which contribute to the 2D spectrum. The spectrum is determined by two entangled relaxation processes, namely, the EEA and the direct relaxation of higher lying excited states. It is shown that the change of the spectrum as a function of a pulse delay can be linked directly to the presence of the EEA process. KW - exciton-exciton KW - Exziton KW - Spektroskopie KW - EEA KW - 2Dimensionale Spektroskopie KW - exciton Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-178420 UR - https://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.5086151 N1 - This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in J. Süß et al., J. Chem. Phys. 150, 104304 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5086151 and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5086151. VL - 150 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hoche, Joscha A1 - Schulz, Alexander A1 - Dietrich, Lysanne Monika A1 - Humeniuk, Alexander A1 - Stolte, Matthias A1 - Schmidt, David A1 - Brixner, Tobias A1 - Würthner, Frank A1 - Mitric, Roland T1 - The origin of the solvent dependence of fluorescence quantum yields in dipolar merocyanine dyes JF - Chemical Science N2 - Fluorophores with high quantum yields are desired for a variety of applications. Optimization of promising chromophores requires an understanding of the non-radiative decay channels that compete with the emission of photons. We synthesized a new derivative of the famous laser dye 4-dicyanomethylen-2-methyl-6-p-dimethylaminostyryl-4H-pyran (DCM),i.e., merocyanine 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-tert-butyl-6-[3-(3-butyl-benzothiazol-2-ylidene)1-propenyl]-4H-pyran (DCBT). We measured fluorescence lifetimes and quantum yields in a variety of solvents and found a trend opposite to the energy gap law.This motivated a theoretical investigation into the possible non-radiative decay channels. We propose that a barrier to a conical intersection exists that is very sensitive to the solvent polarity. The conical intersection is characterized by a twisted geometry which allows a subsequent photoisomerization. Transient absorption measurements confirmed the formation of a photoisomer in unpolar solvents, while the measurements of fluorescence quantum yields at low temperature demonstrated the existence of an activation energy barrier. KW - solvent-dependent fluorescence yield Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198707 UR - https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05012D VL - 10 ER -