Reduction of Yb(III) to Yb(II) by Two-Color Two-Photon Excitation

Ytterbium 3+ ions in alcohol were found to be reduced to the corresponding 2+ ions upon laser irradiation with a stepwise two-color two-photon excitation. The infrared (975-nm) pulse with a duration of 4 ns pumps the ground state to the 4f excited state with the transition of ²F_5/2 ← ²F_7/2, and the second photon (355-nm) generates the charge transfer (CT) state of Cl 3p to Yb 4f; the reduction then occurs. Laser energy and excitation wavelength dependencies well-explain the above mechanism. The product Yb²⁺ was detected by its absorption spectrum peak at 367 nm. The absorption spectrum of the intermediate in the two-photon chemistry was measured from the 4f excited state (²F_5/2) to the CT state by nanosecond laser photolysis. The intermediate spectrum appears in the wavelengths shorter than 400 nm with the molar extinction coefficient on the order of (10² M^–1 cm^–1) at 340 nm and can be explained in terms of the CT absorption shifted by IR photon energy. A UV nanosecond laser pulse (266 nm from a YAG laser with a duration of 6 ns) can generate the reactive CT state by one-photon absorption and leads to Yb²⁺ formation. The reaction yields for single-photon UV excitation and the second photon in the two-photon excitation are on the order of 0.1, suggesting that the reactive states are a common CT state.