Accuracy of perturbation theory for nonadiabatic effects in adsorbate-surface dynamics

Coherent exciton-vibrational dynamics and energy transfer in conjugated organics

Coherence, signifying concurrent electron-vibrational dynamics in complex natural and man-made systems, is currently a subject of intense study. Understanding this phenomenon is important when designing carrier transport in optoelectronic materials. Here, excited state dynamics simulations reveal a ubiquitous pattern in the evolution of photoexcitations for a broad range of molecular systems. Symmetries of the wavefunctions define a specific form of the non-adiabatic coupling that drives quantum transitions between excited states, leading to a collective asymmetric vibrational excitation coupled to the electronic system. This promotes periodic oscillatory evolution of the wavefunctions, preserving specific phase and amplitude relations across the ensemble of trajectories. The simple model proposed here explains the appearance of coherent exciton-vibrational dynamics due to non-adiabatic transitions, which is universal across multiple molecular systems. The observed relationships between electronic wavefunctions and the resulting functionalities allows us to understand, and potentially manipulate, excited state dynamics and energy transfer in molecular materials.

Unified description of H-atom-induced chemicurrents and inelastic scattering

The Born-Oppenheimer approximation (BOA) provides the foundation for virtually all computational studies of chemical binding and reactivity, and it is the justification for the widely used "balls and springs" picture of molecules. The BOA assumes that nuclei effectively stand still on the timescale of electronic motion, due to their large masses relative to electrons. This implies electrons never change their energy quantum state. When molecules react, atoms must move, meaning that electrons may become excited in violation of the BOA. Such electronic excitation is clearly seen for: (i) Schottky diodes where H adsorption at Ag surfaces produces electrical "chemicurrent;" (ii) Au-based metal-insulator-metal (MIM) devices, where chemicurrents arise from H-H surface recombination; and (iii) Inelastic energy transfer, where H collisions with Au surfaces show H-atom translation excites the metal's electrons. As part of this work, we report isotopically selective hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) translational inelasticity measurements in collisions with Ag and Au. Together, these experiments provide an opportunity to test new theories that simultaneously describe both nuclear and electronic motion, a standing challenge to the field. Here, we show results of a recently developed first-principles theory that quantitatively explains both inelastic scattering experiments that probe nuclear motion and chemicurrent experiments that probe electronic excitation. The theory explains the magnitude of chemicurrents on Ag Schottky diodes and resolves an apparent paradox--chemicurrents exhibit a much larger isotope effect than does H/D inelastic scattering. It also explains why, unlike Ag-based Schottky diodes, Au-based MIM devices are insensitive to H adsorption.

Electronic energy dissipation during scattering of vibrationally excited molecules at metal surfaces: ab initio simulations for HCl/Al(111)

In this Letter, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations based on time-dependent density functional theory for the electrons and Ehrenfest dynamics for the nuclei are reported that detail the interaction of a vibrating HCl molecule with an Al(111) substrate. The mechanism responsible for the strong electron-hole-pair (EHP)-vibrational coupling in case of highly vibrationally excited molecules is traced back to a large eigenenergy shift of the spz*-like antibonding HCl lowest unoccupied molecular orbital with the bond length. As a consequence of this mechanism, the electronic excitation spectra turn out to be highly asymmetric. The simulations suggest an explanation of how to reconcile a strong EHP-vibrational coupling in case of highly vibrationally excited molecules with the small, but clearly evident, electronic contribution to the v=0 → v=1 vibrational excitation observed experimentally during the scattering of HCl molecules at a hot Au surface by Ran et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 237601 (2007)].

Electronic excitations induced by hydrogen surface chemical reactions on gold

Associated with chemical reactions at surfaces energy may be dissipated exciting surface electronic degrees of freedom. These excitations are detected using metal-insulator-metal (MIM) heterostructures (Ta-TaOx-Au) and the reactions of H with and on a Au surface are probed. A current corresponding to 5×10(-5) electrons per adsorbing H atom and a marked isotope effect are observed under steady-state conditions. Analysis of the current trace when the H atom flux is intermitted suggests that predominantly the recombination reaction creates electronic excitations. Biasing the front versus the back electrode of the MIM structure provides insights into the spectrum of electronic excitations. The observed spectra differ for the two isotopes H and D and are asymmetric when comparing negative and positive bias voltages. Modeling indicates that the excited electrons and the concurrently created holes differ in their energy distributions.