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Abstract Shortwave infrared radiation (SWIR) is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum from approximately 900 nm to 2500 nm. Recent advances in imaging systems have expanded the application of SWIR emitters from traditional fields in materials science to biomedical imaging, and the new detectors in SWIR opened an opportunity of deep tissue imaging. Achieving deep photon penetration while maintaining high resolution is one of the main objectives and challenges in bioimaging used for the investigation of diverse processes in living organisms. The application of SWIR emitters in biological settings is, however, hampered by low quantum efficiency. So far, photoluminescent properties in the SWIR region have not been improved by extending concepts that have been developed for the visible (400–650 nm) and near-infrared (NIR, 700–900 nm) wavelengths, which indicates that the governing behavior is fundamentally different in the SWIR. The focus of this minireview is to examine the mechanisms behind the low efficiency of SWIR emitters as well as to highlight the progress in their design for biological applications. Several common mechanisms will be considered in this review: (a) the effect of the energy gap between the excited and ground state on the quantum efficiency, (b) the coupling of the excited electronic states in SWIR emitters to vibrational states in the surrounding matrix, and (c) the role of environment in quenching the excited states. General strategies to improve the quantum yields for a diverse type of SWIR emitters will be also presented.
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Nonadiabatic Derivative Couplings through Multiple Franck–Condon Modes Dictate the Energy Gap Law for Near and Short-Wave Infrared Dye Molecules
Near infrared (NIR, 700–1000 nm) and short-wave infrared (SWIR, 1000–2000 nm) dye molecules exhibit significant nonradiative decay rates from the first singlet excited state to the ground state. While these trends can be empirically explained by a simple energy gap law, detailed mechanisms of nearly universal behavior have remained unsettled for many cases. Theoretical and experimental results for two representative NIR/SWIR dye molecules reported here clarify the key mechanism for the observed energy gap law behavior. It is shown that the first derivative nonadiabatic coupling terms serve as major coupling pathways for nonadiabatic decay processes from the first excited singlet state to the ground state for these NIR and SWIR dye molecules and that vibrational modes other than the highest frequency modes also make significant contributions to the rate. This assessment is corroborated by further theoretical comparison with possible alternative mechanisms of intersystem crossing to triplet states and also by comparison with experimental data for deuterated molecules.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2204263
- PAR ID:
- 10532341
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Chemical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
- Volume:
- 15
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 1948-7185
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1802 to 1810
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02629
