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The nonadiabatic states and dynamics are investigated for a linear vibronic coupling Hamiltonian with a static electronic splitting and weak off-diagonal Jahn-Teller coupling through a single vibration with a vibrational-electronic resonance. With a transformation of the electronic basis, this Hamiltonian is also applicable to the anti-correlated vibration in a symmetric homodimer with marginally strong constant off-diagonal coupling, where the non-adiabatic states and dynamics model electronic excitation energy transfer or self-exchange electron transfer. For parameters modeling a free-base naphthalocyanine, the nonadiabatic couplings are deeply quantum mechanical and depend on wavepacket width; scalar couplings are as important as the derivative couplings that are usually interpreted to depend on vibrational velocity in semiclassical curve crossing or surface hopping theories. A colored visualization scheme that fully characterizes the non-adiabatic states using the exact factorization is developed. The nonadiabatic states in this nested funnel have nodeless vibrational factors with strongly avoided zeroes in their vibrational probability densities. Vibronic dynamics are visualized through the vibrational coordinate dependent density of the time-dependent dipole moment in free induction decay. Vibrational motion is amplified by the nonadiabatic couplings, with asymmetric and anisotropic motions that depend upon the excitation polarization in the molecular frame and can be reversed by a change in polarization. This generates a vibrational quantum beat anisotropy in excess of 2/5. The amplitude of vibrational motion can be larger than that on the uncoupled potentials, and the electronic population transfer is maximized within one vibrational period. Most of these dynamics are missed by the adiabatic approximation, and some electronic and vibrational motions are completely suppressed by the Condon approximation of a coordinate-independent transition dipole between adiabatic states. For all initial conditions investigated, the initial nonadiabatic electronic motion is driven towards the lower adiabatic state, and criteria for this directed motion are discussed.
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Electronic energy transfer through non-adiabatic vibrational-electronic resonance. I. Theory for a dimer
Non-adiabatic vibrational-electronic resonance in the excited electronic states of natural photosynthetic antennas drastically alters the adiabatic framework, in which electronic energy transfer has been conventionally studied, and suggests the possibility of exploiting non-adiabatic dynamics for directed energy transfer. Here, a generalized dimer model incorporates asymmetries between pigments, coupling to the environment, and the doubly excited state relevant for nonlinear spectroscopy. For this generalized dimer model, the vibrational tuning vector that drives energy transfer is derived and connected to decoherence between singly excited states. A correlation vector is connected to decoherence between the ground state and the doubly excited state. Optical decoherence between the ground and singly excited states involves linear combinations of the correlation and tuning vectors. Excitonic coupling modifies the tuning vector. The correlation and tuning vectors are not always orthogonal, and both can be asymmetric under pigment exchange, which affects energy transfer. For equal pigment vibrational frequencies, the nonadiabatic tuning vector becomes an anti-correlated delocalized linear combination of intramolecular vibrations of the two pigments, and the nonadiabatic energy transfer dynamics become separable. With exchange symmetry, the correlation and tuning vectors become delocalized intramolecular vibrations that are symmetric and antisymmetric under pigment exchange. Diabatic criteria for vibrational-excitonic resonance demonstrate that anti-correlated vibrations increase the range and speed of vibronically resonant energy transfer (the Golden Rule rate is a factor of 2 faster). A partial trace analysis shows that vibronic decoherence for a vibrational-excitonic resonance between two excitons is slower than their purely excitonic decoherence.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1405050
- PAR ID:
- 10593753
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Institute of Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Journal of Chemical Physics
- Volume:
- 147
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 0021-9606
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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