Electronic excited states as a probe of surface adsorbate structure and dynamics in liquid xenon

摘要

A combination of second harmonic generation (SHG) and a simple dipole-dipole interaction model is presented as a new technique for determining adsorbate geometries on surfaces. The polarization dependence of SHG is used to define possible geometries of the adsorbate about the surface normal. Absorption band shifts using geometry constraints imposed by SHG data are derived for a dimer constructed from two arbitrarily placed monomers on the surface using the dipole-dipole interaction potential. These formulae can be used to determine the orientation of the two monomers relative to each other. A simplified version of this formalism is used to interpret absorption band shifts for rhodamine B adsorbed on fused silica. A brief history of the exciton is given with particular detail to Xe. Data are presented for transient absorption at RT in liquid xenon on the picosecond time scale. These are observations of both tunneling through the barrier that separates the free and trapped exciton states and the subsequent trapping of the exciton. In high densities both of these processes are found to occur within 2 to 6 picoseconds in agreement with theories of Kmiecik and Schreiber and of Martin. A threshold density is observed that separates relaxation via single binary collisions and relaxation that proceeds via Martin's resonant energy transfer hopping mechanism.