Effect of rotational relaxation on the intensity and polarization of fluorescence emission caused by sequential two-photo excitation

General formulas are derived for the intensity and the degree of polarization of the S_m-fluorescence emission (m ? 2) of a sample excited by the sequential two-photon excitation process (S_n ← S₁ ← S₀, n ? 2) with plane-polarized pulsed light. They show how the S_m-fluorescence intensity and anisotropy depend on the relative orientation of the relevant transition dipoles within a molecule and on the degree of rotational relaxation of molecules in the intermediate state (S₁) and in the S_m state (for the case m = n), or in the S_n → S_m process (m ≠ n).