Optical excitations in organic dendrimers investigated by time-resolved and nonlinear optical spectroscopy

Our research is concerned with the optical properties of covalently bound branched multichromophore systems. The presence of strong intramolecular interactions in dendrimers and other branched macromolecules has stimulated new approaches toward improved energy transfer and light-emitting and enhanced nonlinear optical materials, as well as the possibility of delocalized (exciton) excitations in molecular aggregates. This Account summarizes some of our investigations, which combine the use of different time-resolved techniques to examine the dynamics in organic (conjugated) branched structures and provide important structure-function correlations necessary for applications.