LIGHT-ABSORPTION IN STRONGLY IRRADIATED LONG-RANGE POLAR ELECTRON-TRANSFER SYSTEMS

Light absorption of long range electron transfer (ET) complexes immers ed in polar solvents is analyzed. At sufficiently high laser intensiti es absorption or emission of multiple photon quanta occurs. In additio n, the equilibrium population of the two donor and acceptor electronic states is strongly perturbed from its field-off value. The combinatio n of these two effects results in dramatic variations in the frequency dependence of the absorption cross section as a function of laser int ensity. Certain bands in the absorption spectrum can be eliminated sim ply by changing the laser intensity. For commonly utilized mixed-valen ce transition metal ET complexes and polar solvents an applied electri c field strength of approximate to 10(7) V/cm should be sufficient to induce noticeable changes in the weak-field spectrum.