Exchange narrowing in dynamically disordered molecular aggregates

Anomalous Temperature Dependence of Exciton Spectral Diffusion in Tetracene Thin Film

In this work, an ultrafast spectral diffusion of the lowest exciton in a tetracene ultrathin film is studied by two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy. From the analysis of the nodal line slope, the frequency-fluctuation correlation function (FFCF) of the exciton band is extracted. The FFCF contains two components with decay times of 400 and 80 fs; while the former can be understood by a linear exciton-phonon coupling model, the latter shows an order of magnitude increase in its amplitude from 96 to 186 K that cannot be explained by the same model. A novel scheme of the energy-gap fluctuations is examined, in which an intramolecular high-frequency mode causes the spectral diffusion that is enhanced through an anharmonic coupling to low-frequency phonon modes. This finding provides a valuable input for future theoretical predictions on the ultrafast nonadiabatic dynamics of the molecular exciton.

Electrically Driven Single-Photon Superradiance from Molecular Chains in a Plasmonic Nanocavity

We demonstrate single-photon superradiance from artificially constructed nonbonded zinc-phthalocyanine molecular chains of up to 12 molecules. We excite the system via electron tunneling in a plasmonic nanocavity and quantitatively investigate the interaction of the localized plasmon with single-exciton superradiant states resulting from dipole-dipole coupling. Dumbbell-like patterns obtained by subnanometer resolved spectroscopic imaging disclose the coherent nature of the coupling associated with superradiant states while second-order photon correlation measurements demonstrate single-photon emission. The combination of spatially resolved spectral measurements with theoretical considerations reveals that nanocavity plasmons dramatically modify the linewidth and intensity of emission from the molecular chains, but they do not dictate the intrinsic coherence of the superradiant states. Our studies shed light on the optical properties of molecular collective states and their interaction with nanoscopically localized plasmons.

Excitation energy transfer in a non-markovian dynamical disordered environment: localization, narrowing, and transfer efficiency

The non-markovian effect of a fluctuating environment plays an important role in electronic excitation transfer in organic disordered media, such as light-harvesting systems and conjugated polymers. Stochastic Liouville equations (SLE) are used to study the interaction between excitons and the environment. We model the non-markovian environment phenomenologically with a dichotomic process. An exact approach to solve the SLE based on Shapiro and Loginov's differentiation formulas allows us to rigorously study the effect of the non-markovian environment on excitation energy transfer, such as coherence conservation and its implication for transfer efficiency. This simple SLE model goes beyond the perturbative second-order master equation valid for both the weak coupling and short time correlation conditions. In addition, we discuss why our non-markovian model is a good approximation to the SLE model driven by the stationary Gauss-Markov process (Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process) over a broad range of fluctuation strengths and correlation times. Numerical results based on our SLE model for dimeric aggregates and the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex reveal the important interplay of intermolecular coupling, correlation time, and fluctuation strength, and their effects on the exciton relaxation process due to the environmental phonon. The results also uncover the connection between localization and motional narrowing, and the efficiency of electronic excitation transfer, demonstrating that the non-markovian environment is critical for chromophore aggregates to achieve an optimal transfer rate in a noisy environment and to contribute to the robustness of the FMO excitation energy transfer network.

Effect of static and dynamic disorder on exciton mobility in oligothiophenes

The polarized optical absorption spectra of different quaterthiophene single crystals in the energy region of the exciton bands originating from the first molecular transition are reported as measured in the temperatures ranging from 7 to 140 K. The intrinsic higher mobility of the b-polarized 0-0 a(u) exciton both with respect to its replicas and to the a-polarized structures is demonstrated in high quality crystals at the lowest temperatures. The influence of structural disorder on mobility is discussed considering, for the different samples, the measured lineshape and linewidth of the absorption peaks, and the relative lineshift and intensity ratio between the 0-0 a(u) line and its first replica at the lowest temperature. The influence of dynamic disorder is discussed considering the lineshape and linewidth of the measured peaks as a function of temperature for both polarizations in the framework of the exciton-phonon coupling theory.

Dissipative exciton transfer in donor-bridge-acceptor systems: numerical renormalization group calculation of equilibrium properties

We present a detailed model study of exciton transfer processes in donor-bridge-acceptor (DBA) systems. Using a model which includes the intermolecular Coulomb interaction and the coupling to a dissipative environment we calculate the phase diagram, the absorption spectrum as well as dynamic equilibrium properties with the numerical renormalization group. This method is non-perturbative and therefore allows one to cover the full parameter space, especially the case when the intermolecular Coulomb interaction is of the same order as the coupling to the environment and perturbation theory cannot be applied. For DBA systems with up to six sites we found a transition to the localized phase (self-trapping) depending on the coupling to the dissipative environment. We discuss various criteria which favour delocalized exciton transfer.

Thermal broadening of the J-band in disordered linear molecular aggregates: A theoretical study

We theoretically study the temperature dependence of the J-band width in disordered linear molecular aggregates, caused by dephasing of the exciton states due to scattering on vibrations of the host matrix. In particular, we consider inelastic one- and two-phonon scatterings between different exciton states (energy-relaxation-induced dephasing), as well as the elastic two-phonon scattering of the excitons (pure dephasing). The exciton states follow from numerical diagonalization of a Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian with diagonal disorder; the scattering rates between them are obtained using the Fermi golden rule. A Debye-type model for the one- and two-phonon spectral densities is used in the calculations. We find that, owing to the disorder, the dephasing rates of the individual exciton states are distributed over a wide range of values. We also demonstrate that the dominant channel of two-phonon scattering is not the elastic one, as is often tacitly assumed, but rather comes from a similar two-phonon inelastic scattering process. In order to study the temperature dependence of the J-band width, we simulate the absorption spectrum, accounting for the dephasing-induced broadening of the exciton states. We find a power-law (T(p)) temperature scaling of the effective homogeneous width, with an exponent p that depends on the shape of the spectral density of the host vibrations. In particular, for a Debye model of vibrations, we find p approximately 4, which is in good agreement with the experimental data on J aggregates of pseudoisocyanine [I. Renge and U. P. Wild, J. Phys. Chem. A, 101, 7977 (1997)].

A reduced density-matrix theory of absorption line shape of molecular aggregate

A theory for the absorption line shape of molecular aggregates in condensed phase is formulated based on a reduced density-matrix approach. Intermolecular couplings in the aggregates are assumed to be weak (Förster type of energy transfer mechanism). The spin-Boson model is employed to include the effect of electron-phonon coupling. Using the projection operator technique, we derive kinetic equations for the reduced electronic density matrix associated with the absorption spectrum. General expressions of time-dependent rate constants in the kinetic equations are derived by using the cumulant expansion technique. The resulting time-dependent kinetic equations are solved numerically. We illustrate the applicability of the present theory by calculating the line shape of a dimer (a pair of donor and acceptor of energy transfer). For a J-aggregate type of molecular pair (with excitonic redshift), a tail appears on the blue side of the absorption spectrum due to the existence of inhomogeneity in electronic state mixing which is originated from the electron-phonon coupling.

General random matrix approach to account for the effect of static disorder on the spectral properties of light harvesting systems

We develop a random matrix model approach to study static disorder in pigment-protein complexes in photosynthetic organisms. As a case study, we examine the ring of B850 bacteriochlorophylls in the peripheral light-harvesting complex of Rhodospirillum molischianum, formulated in terms of an effective Hamiltonian describing the collective electronic excitations of the system. We numerically examine and compare various models of disorder and observe that both the density of states and the absorption spectrum of the model show remarkable spectral universality. For the case of unitary disorder, we develop a method to analytically evaluate the density of states of the ensemble using the supersymmetric formulation of random matrix theory. Succinct formulas that can be readily applied in future studies are provided in an appendix.