excited state

noun

Physics.

1. any of the energy levels of a physical system, especially an atom, molecule, etc., that has higher energy than the lowest energy level.

excited state

1. A state of a physical system in which the system has more than the minimum possible potential energy. Excited states tend to be unstable and easily or spontaneously revert to lower energy states, giving off energy.

2. Compare ground state

Word History and Origins

Origin of excited state¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

"The lifetime of the complex of 190 nanoseconds is also remarkable. This is two orders of magnitude longer than any previously known complexes containing common metals such as iron or manganese," said Dr. Robert Naumann, the lead spectroscopist who analyzed how the excited state behaves using luminescence spectroscopy.

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Because this encounter can take several nanoseconds, a long lasting excited state is essential.

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With its simple, scalable synthesis, strong light absorption, stable photophysical characteristics, and long lived excited state, the manganese-based material could support future large scale photochemical applications.

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"Working with this system has highlighted to us the power of the fundamental investigation of materials. As for the hBN system, as a field we can harness excited state dynamics in other new material platforms for use in future quantum technologies," said Dr. Hannah Stern, first author of the paper, who conducted this research at the Cavendish Laboratory and is now a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer at University of Manchester.

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However, it was unclear what allows two triplet excitons to efficiently combine their energies into a different excited state of a single molecule that then emits a high-energy photon, and this knowledge gap has been a serious bottleneck in the development of such materials.

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