Electron-nuclear correlations for photo-induced dynamics in molecular dimers

TL;DR

This paper investigates ultrafast photoinduced electronic and nuclear dynamics in molecular dimers, revealing distinct time scales and quantum relaxation features using a model that accounts for electron-nuclear correlations and nuclear wavepacket dispersion.

Contribution

It introduces a simple, scalable method to analyze quantum relaxation and electron-nuclear correlations in photoinduced dynamics of molecular dimers.

Findings

Identification of three distinct time scales in the dynamics.

Growth of nuclear coordinate dispersion during relaxation.

Validation of results through comparison with the Jaynes-Cummings model.

Abstract

Ultrafast photoinduced dynamics of electronic excitation in molecular dimers is drastically affected by the dynamic reorganization of inter- and intra- molecular nuclear configuration modeled by a quantized nuclear degree of freedom [Cina et. al, J. Chem Phys. {118}, 46 (2003)]. The dynamics of the electronic population and nuclear coherence is analyzed by solving the chain of coupled differential equations for %mean coordinate, population inversion, electron-vibrational correlation, etc. [Prezhdo, Pereverzev, J. Chem. Phys. {113} 6557 (2000)]. Intriguing results are obtained in the approximation of a small change of the nuclear equilibrium upon photoexcitation. In the limiting case of resonance between the electronic energy gap and the frequency of the nuclear mode these results are justified by comparison to the exactly solvable Jaynes-Cummings model. It is found that the photoinduced processes in the model dimer are arranged according to their time scales: (i) fast scale of nuclear motion, (ii) intermediate scale of dynamical redistribution of electronic population between excited states as well as growth and dynamics of electron-nuclear correlation, (iii) slow scale of electronic population approach to the quasi-equilibrium distribution, decay of electron-nuclear correlation, and decrease of the amplitude of mean coordinate oscillation. The latter processes are accompanied by a noticeable growth of the nuclear coordinate dispersion associated with the overall nuclear wavepacket width. The demonstrated quantum relaxation features of the photoinduced vibronic dynamics in molecular dimers are obtained by a simple method, applicable to systems with many degrees of freedom.