Abstract

Single molecule spectroscopy opens a wide field of research. Fundamental spectroscopic properties such as inhomogeneous broadening, spectral diffusion, and homogeneous dephasing can be investigated. Moerner and Kador first succeeded in detecting single pentacene molecules in a p-terphenyl host crystal by using a double modulated absorption technique [1]. Orrit and Bernard used a fluorescence excitation [2] technique to detect single molecules. Spectroscopic measurements of the quadratic Stark effect were performed by Wild, Güttler, Pirotta, and Renn [3].

© 1992 Optical Society of America