Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy of high-lying electronic states of Zn-tetraphenylporphyrin

Depopulation of the S2 excited electronic state of the Zn-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) was monitored by measuring the decay of S2→S0 and the rise of S1→S0 fluorescence using the up-conversion fluorescence technique with a time-resolution of 120 fs. The lifetime of the S2 electronic state, measured for ZnTPP in ethanol (τS2=2.35 ps) correlates with the risetime of S1→S0 fluorescence. This result demonstrates the depopulation of S2 to S1 via (vibrational) states with lifetimes much shorter than that of S2. The rise time of S2 fluorescence (τv=60–90 fs) was attributed to vibrational relaxation (in S2). Fluorescence anisotropy decay of the S2 state was also studied by measuring the parallel and perpendicular fluorescence components. The high initial anisotropy of r⩾0.7 is interpreted as due to the existence of a degenerate excited electronic state S2 and the corresponding fast decay time τ1=0.2 ps to the electronic dephasing of the degenerate level pair. The long component of the anisotropy decay (τ2≫10 ps) is due to rotational diffusion.