Long-lived-correlated triplet-pair state in an imide substituted poly-thienylene vinylene-based π-conjugated polymer

We report on the photophysical properties of a soluble thienylene-vinylene π-conjugated polymer, namely imide poly-thienylene vinylene. Ultrafast pump probe spectroscopy reveals that a broad photoinduced absorption (PA) band is immediately photogenerated along with a narrower PA from the photoinduced singlet excitons. The broad PA is susceptible to magnetic field and thus is assigned to a correlated triple pair state. This feature shows a long lifetime persisting into the μs time domain, in contrast to the singlet exciton PA, which quickly decays on a 10-ps timescale. The steady-state PA spectrum is identical to the transient PA spectrum of the triplet pair state but shows a magnetic field response that is typical to isolated triplet excitons.