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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging of Molecular Rotors in Living Cells
Published on: February 9, 2012
Time-resolved fluorescence of carbon nanotubes and its implication for radiative lifetimes
Feng Wang1, Gordana Dukovic, Louis E Brus
1Departments of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Abstract:
The temporal evolution of fluorescence from isolated single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been investigated using optical Kerr gating. The fluorescence emission is found to decay on a time scale of 10 ps. This fast relaxation arises from nonradiative processes, the existence of which explains the relatively low observed fluorescence efficiency in isolated SWNTs. From the measured decay rate and a determination of fluorescence quantum efficiency, we deduce a radiative lifetime of 110 ns.
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