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Vol. A71 (1987) ACTA PHYSICA POLONICA No 5

FIFTY YEARS OF THE JABŁOŃSKI DIAGRAM¹

By M. KASHA¹

Institutc of Molccular Biophysics and Department of Chemistry, Florida State University²

(Rcceiued October 21, 1986)

A thematic comparison is madę of ten theories of classical optics, based on electro-magnetic and kinetic theory, and the translation of these theories into ąuantum mechanical • Janguage and format. These basie theories cover the rangę from primary photochemical laws (Grotthus-Draper Law; Einstein Photochemical Equivalence Principle), to empirical fluorescence laws (Stokes¹ Shift; Levshin’s Law of Mirror Image Symmetry), to fundamenta! spectroscopic principles (Franek Principle; Jabłoński Diagram). Each of these theories is shown to have had a fundamental role in the deveIopment of the photochemistry and speo troscopy of polyatomic molecules, and each survives today in its contemporary Quantum Mechanical format.

PACS numbers: 32.50.+d, 33.50.-j, 78.55.-m, 82.50.-m

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1. Researches of Aleksander Jabłoński

Aleksander Jabłoński was one of the pioneers in the development of the field of molec-ular photophysics. He madę contributions to the understanding of the kinetics of excita-tion of dyestuff molecules, the polarization and anisotropy of their luminesccncc, solvent perturbation effects on molecular excitation, and radiation mechanisms. His works, includ-ing his studies on pressure-broadening of spectral lines, are elassies in the field [1-5] and have had a profound influence on the development of the understanding of the optical and spectroscopic properties of molecular systems.

A comprehensive overview of Aleksander Jabłońskie work in molecular luminescence appears in his 1936 paper [6] presented at the International Conference on Photolumines-cence in Warsaw, May 1936 (Pringsheim’s introduction names it the World’s first inter-national conference on the subject). The names of the conferees cover the whole rangę of the World’s most prominent scientists of the time, working on spectroscopic phenomena.

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1

⁰ Presented at the International Symposium on Molecular Luminescence and Photophysics, Toruń, Poland, September 2-5, 1986.

t Work done under Contract No. DE-AS05-78EV05855 between the Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research, U. S. Department of Energy, and the Florida State University.

2

Address: Institute of Molecular Biophysics and Department of Chemistry, Florida State Univer-sity, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-3015, USA.