Low Power Visible-to-UV Upconversion

Low power visible-to-UV photon upconversion is demonstrated for the first time, achieved from two simple organic chromophores dissolved in benzene. Selective 442 nm excitation of the triplet sensitizer 2,3-butanedione (biacetyl) in the presence of the laser dye 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) results in the observation of singlet fluorescence from the latter in the UV centered at 360 nm, anti-Stokes shifted by a record 0.64 eV with respect to the excitation. All of the experimental data are consistent with the upconverted singlet PPO fluorescence being produced as a result of biacetyl-sensitized triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) of triplet excited PPO chromophores. Nanosecond laser flash photolysis performed under pseudo-first-order conditions revealed the bimolecular rate constant of triplet-triplet energy transfer between the biacetyl sensitizer and PPO acceptor, k(q) = 9.0 x 10(8) M(-1)s(-1). The TTA process was confirmed by the quadratic dependence of the upconverted integrated PPO emission intensity measured with respect to incident 442 nm light power density. The maximum quantum yield of the upconverted emission (0.0058 +/- 0.0002) was determined relative to 1,8-diphenyl-1,3,5,7-octatetraene, both measured with 0.389 W/cm(2) incident power density. The PPO triplet-triplet annihilation rate constant (k(TT)) was determined from transient absorption decays monitored at the peak of its characteristic triplet-to-triplet excited-state absorption (500 nm) as a function of incident pulsed laser fluence; this process attains the diffusion limit in benzene at room temperature, k(TT) = 1.1 +/- 0.1 x 10(10) M-1 s(-1).