Vibrational spectroscopy and picosecond dynamics of gaseous trienes and tetraenes in S1 and S2 electronic states

Fluorescence excitation and emission spectra of the S1 and S2 states of model trienes and tetraenes are measured in free jet expansions. The barriers to cis-trans isomerization in the S1 state are < 200 cm-1 for trienes and approximately 2000 cm-1 for tetraenes. < 250 fs nonradiative decay of the S2 state of tetraenes is deduced from the observed Lorentzian linewidths.