Time-resolved polaron dynamics in molten solutions of cesium-doped cesium iodide

Temperature-dependent investigations of excess electrons in molten solutions of cesium-doped cesium iodide (Cs-CsI) (mole fraction of Cs similar to 0.003) were performed applying femtosecond pump-probe absorption spectroscopy. The pulse-limited induced bleach observed at probe wavelengths from 600 to 1240 nm was attributed to the excitation of equilibrated excess electrons which were initially formed by melting a Cs-CsI mixture. The interpretation of the relaxation process is based on strongly localized polarons that constitute the majority of defect states in this melt. As expected, the bipolaron contribution was insignificant. The time constants (tau(1)) were found to be temperature dependent confirming our earlier findings in Na-NaI melts that ionic diffusion almost exclusively controls the dynamics of excess electrons in high temperature ionic liquids. Apart from this temperature dependence, the relaxation dynamics of excess electrons do not differ irrespective of the excitation regime (blue or red part of the respective stationary spectra).