Incoherent Exciton Trapping in Self-Similar Aperiodic Lattices

TL;DR

This study investigates incoherent exciton dynamics in one-dimensional aperiodic lattices with traps arranged according to Thue-Morse and Fibonacci sequences, revealing dynamics similar to periodic systems and potential for experimental observation.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of exciton behavior in self-similar aperiodic lattices, highlighting their unique dynamical features compared to random and periodic systems.

Findings

Exciton decay in aperiodic lattices resembles that in periodic lattices.

Aperiodic arrangements significantly differ from random lattices in exciton dynamics.

Fibonacci and Thue-Morse orderings can be experimentally distinguished through exciton motion.

Abstract

Incoherent exciton dynamics in one-dimensional perfect lattices with traps at sites arranged according to aperiodic deterministic sequences is studied. We focus our attention on Thue-Morse and Fibonacci systems as canonical examples of self-similar aperiodic systems. Excitons progressively extend over the lattice on increasing time and, in this sense, they act as a probe of the particular arrangements of traps in each system considered. The analysis of the characteristic features of their time decay indicates that exciton dynamics in self-similar aperiodic arrangements of traps is quite close to that observed in periodic ones, but differs significatively from that corresponding to random lattices. We also report on characteristic features of exciton motion suggesting that Fibonacci and Thue-Morse orderings might be clearly observed by appropriate experimental measurements. In the conclusions we comment on the implications of our work on the way towards a unified theory of the orderings of matter.