TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF SINGLE-MOLECULE LINE WIDTHS - TERRYLENE IN N-ALKANE MATRICES

Single-molecule microscopy has been used to investigate the temperatur e dependence of terrylene absorption lines in n-alkane matrices. Measu rements have been performed for terrylene/hexadecane and terrylene/dec ane in the temperature range 1.7-8 K. The investigation of many molecu les in parallel allows us to determine line width distributions as wel l as for the analysis the underlying single-molecule properties. The t emperature dependence of the individual lines was found to obey a ther mal activation law. The results for activation energies are consistent with librational frequencies observed in the excitation and emission spectra. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.