Exciton Dynamics in soluble Poly(p-phenylene-vinylene): Towards an Ultrafast Excitonic Switch

We have applied a variety of ps transient and cw optical techniques to elucidate the dynamics, absorption, and emission properties of excitons in soluble derivatives of poly( $p$-phenylene vinylene) neat films and dilute solutions. We found that the photogenerated singlet excitons in both films and solutions are characterized by strong stimulated emission and two photoinduced absorption bands. We demonstrate that these bands can be used to form an ultrafast optical switch in the near IR spectral range with variable switching times.