Transient, nonresonant, hole-burning spectroscopy has been used to study the charge recombination process in poly[2-methoxy-5-(3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy)-1-4-phenylene vinylene] (MDMO-PPV):methanofullerene (PCBM) composite films. The position and intensity of the spectral hole in the absorption band of MDMO-PPV have been monitored as a function of time in the 10 ns-10 mus time range. A time-dependent redshift is observed. The intensity of the spectral hole decays with time according to a power law (proportional to t(-alpha)). The exponent alphaapproximate to0.5 is found to be nearly independent of the excitation fluence in the range 0.05-2 mJ/cm(2). The depth of the spectral hole depends sublinearly on the excitation fluence (I) and can be described by (proportional to Gamma(-beta)) with betasimilar to0.5. The time-dependent redshift and the power-law type time decay can be reproduced by numerical simulations. The Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the hopping dynamics of the photoinduced charges in a lattice of energetically disordered sites before they eventually recombine at the MDMO-PPV:PCBM interface. The results indicate that charge separation is assisted by disorder and that, in the 10 ns-10 mus time range, the recombination rate is limited by the detrapping of the cationic charge carriers in MDMO-PPV. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.