Single Molecule Spectroscopy and Spectral Hole-Burning

Abstract

Spectral hole-burning in the Shpol'skii system terrylene in n-octane has been investigated on the single molecule level. Fluorescence microscopy provides a link between the two methods of spectral hole-burning and single molecule spectroscopy. Information about many different individual molecules can be obtained simultaneously under identical experimental conditions allowing the determination of statistical properties. From a single frequency scan after spectral hole-burning, the ground state population function and an average hole-width, as well as the single molecule linewidth distribution of 700 molecules have been determined.