Molecular Photophysics and Spectroscopy

This book aims to provide a fresh, photon-based description of modern molecular spectroscopy and photophysics, with applications that are drawn from across the breadth of chemistry, biology, physics and materials science, including recent developments. In contrast to many older, established textbooks, this approach dwells less on detailed accounts of theory and instrumentation. Instead, the focus is on the mechanisms that operate at the fundamental level, on how light absorption and scattering occur in molecules, and what happens to the energy which the molecules acquire. Mathematics is kept to a minimum and the required knowledge of calculus seldom extends beyond recognizing the meaning of derivatives and integrals. Quantitative understanding is nevertheless put into practice in example calculations which pepper the text; SI units are used throughout. With the aid of extensive, purposely devised illustrations, this approach aims to foster a deeper intuition for the photophysical processes involved in light-matter interaction, aiming to consolidate the principles and to exemplify how widely ranging information can be derived from spectroscopic study.