Photophysics of conjugated polymers: the contribution of ultrafast spectroscopy

In this paper we discuss the contribution of ultrafast spectroscopy to the definition of a suitable photo-physical picture able to depict conjugated polymers electronic properties. The experiments reported span a range of correlated techniques, pump-probe, field-assisted pump-probe, excitation cross-correlation photoconductivity and pump-push-probe, on solution, film and device structures, showing in this way the potential of the approach, valid for both basic and applied science. Examples are given for several polymers and model compounds. We address vibrational relaxation, internal conversion, inter system crossing and charge separation with tools allowing time resolution as high as 10 fs.. (C) 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Weinheim.