Semiclassical treatments for small-molecule dynamics in low-temperature crystals using fixed and adiabatic vibrational bases

Coherence in Chemistry: Foundations and Frontiers

Coherence refers to correlations in waves. Because matter has a wave-particle nature, it is unsurprising that coherence has deep connections with the most contemporary issues in chemistry research (e.g., energy harvesting, femtosecond spectroscopy, molecular qubits and more). But what does the word "coherence" really mean in the context of molecules and other quantum systems? We provide a review of key concepts, definitions, and methodologies, surrounding coherence phenomena in chemistry, and we describe how the terms "coherence" and "quantum coherence" refer to many different phenomena in chemistry. Moreover, we show how these notions are related to the concept of an interference pattern. Coherence phenomena are indeed complex, and ambiguous definitions may spawn confusion. By describing the many definitions and contexts for coherence in the molecular sciences, we aim to enhance understanding and communication in this broad and active area of chemistry.

Quantum dynamics and spectroscopy of dihalogens in solid matrices. I. Efficient simulation of the photodynamics of the embedded I2Kr18 cluster using the G-MCTDH method

The molecular dynamics following the electronic BΠu30⁺⟵XΣg+1 photoexcitation of the iodine molecule embedded in solid krypton are studied quantum mechanically using the Gaussian variant of the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method (G-MCTDH). The accuracy of the Gaussian wave packet approximation is validated against numerically exact MCTDH simulations for a fully anharmonic seven-dimensional model of the I₂Kr₁₈ cluster in a crystal Kr cage. The linear absorption spectrum, time-evolving vibrational probability densities, and I₂ energy expectation value are accurately reproduced by the numerically efficient G-MCTDH approach. The reduced density matrix of the chromophore is analyzed in the coordinate, Wigner and energy representations, so as to obtain a multifaceted dynamical view of the guest-host interactions. Vibrational coherences extending over the bond distance range 2.7 Å < R_I-I < 4.0 Å are found to survive for several vibrational periods, despite extensive dissipation. The present results prepare the ground for the simulation of time-resolved coherent Raman spectroscopy of the I₂-krypton system addressed in Paper II.

"Divide and conquer" semiclassical molecular dynamics: A practical method for spectroscopic calculations of high dimensional molecular systems

We extensively describe our recently established "divide-and-conquer" semiclassical method [M. Ceotto, G. Di Liberto, and R. Conte, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 010401 (2017)] and propose a new implementation of it to increase the accuracy of results. The technique permits us to perform spectroscopic calculations of high-dimensional systems by dividing the full-dimensional problem into a set of smaller dimensional ones. The partition procedure, originally based on a dynamical analysis of the Hessian matrix, is here more rigorously achieved through a hierarchical subspace-separation criterion based on Liouville's theorem. Comparisons of calculated vibrational frequencies to exact quantum ones for a set of molecules including benzene show that the new implementation performs better than the original one and that, on average, the loss in accuracy with respect to full-dimensional semiclassical calculations is reduced to only 10 wavenumbers. Furthermore, by investigating the challenging Zundel cation, we also demonstrate that the "divide-and-conquer" approach allows us to deal with complex strongly anharmonic molecular systems. Overall the method very much helps the assignment and physical interpretation of experimental IR spectra by providing accurate vibrational fundamentals and overtones decomposed into reduced dimensionality spectra.

Ab Initio Transient Vibrational Spectral Analysis

Pump probe spectroscopy techniques have enabled the direct observation of a variety of transient molecular species in both ground and excited electronic states. Time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy is becoming an indispensable tool for investigating photoinduced nuclear dynamics of chemical systems of all kinds. On the other hand, a complete picture of the chemical dynamics encoded in these spectra cannot be achieved without a full temporal description of the structural relaxation, including the explicit time-dependence of vibrational coordinates that are substantially displaced from equilibrium by electronic excitation. Here we present a transient vibrational analysis protocol combining ab initio direct molecular dynamics and time-integrated normal modes introduced in this work, relying on the recent development of analytic time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) second derivatives for excited states. Prototypical molecules will be used as test cases, showing the evolution of the vibrational signatures that follow electronic excitation. This protocol provides a direct route to assigning the vibrations implicated in the (photo)dynamics of several (photoactive) systems.

Calculations of nonlinear wave-packet interferometry signals in the pump-probe limit as tests for vibrational control over electronic excitation transfer

The preceding paper [J. D. Biggs and J. A. Cina, J. Chem. Phys. 131, 224101 (2009)] (referred to here as Paper 1), describes a strategy for externally influencing the course of short-time electronic excitation transfer (EET) in molecular dimers and observing the process by nonlinear wave-packet interferometry (nl-WPI). External influence can, for example, be exerted by inducing coherent intramolecular vibration in one of the chromophores prior to short-pulse electronic excitation of the other. Within a sample of isotropically oriented dimers having a specified internal geometry, a vibrational mode internal to the acceptor chromophore can be preferentially driven by electronically nonresonant impulsive stimulated Raman (or resonant infrared) excitation with a short polarized "control" pulse. A subsequent electronically resonant polarized pump then preferentially excites the donor, and EET ensues. Paper 1 investigates control-pulse-influenced nl-WPI as a tool for the spectroscopic evaluation of the effect of coherent molecular vibration on excitation transfer, presenting general expressions for the nl-WPI difference signal from a dimer following the action of a control pulse of arbitrary polarization and shape. Electronic excitation is to be effected and its interchromophore transfer monitored by resonant pump and probe "pulses," respectively, each consisting of an optical-phase-controlled ultrashort pulse-pair having arbitrary polarization, duration, center frequency, and other characteristics. Here we test both the control strategy and its spectroscopic investigation-with some sacrifice of amplitude-level detail-by calculating the pump-probe difference signal. That signal is the limiting case of the control-influenced nl-WPI signal in which the two pulses in the pump pulse-pair coincide, as do the two pulses in the probe pulse-pair. We present calculated pump-probe difference signals for (1) a model excitation-transfer complex in which two equal-energy monomers each support one moderately Franck-Condon active intramolecular vibration; (2) a simplified model of the covalent dimer dithia-anthracenophane, representing its EET dynamics following selective impulsive excitation of the weakly Franck-Condon active nu(12) anthracene vibration at 385 cm(-1); and (3) a model complex featuring moderate electronic-vibrational coupling in which the site energy of the acceptor chromophore is lower than that of the donor.