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Title: Coherent exciton-vibrational dynamics and energy transfer in conjugated organics

Journal Article · · Nature Communications

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.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); LANL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) (Argentina); National Univ. of Quilmes (UNQ) (Argentina); National Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion (ANPCyT) (Argentina)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396; PICT- 2014–2662
OSTI ID:
1457307
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-30143
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 9; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 57 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Vibronic coherence contributes to photocurrent generation in organic semiconductor heterojunction diodes journal January 2020
A cruciform phthalocyanine pentad-based NIR-II photothermal agent for highly efficient tumor ablation journal January 2019
Electron transfer in confined electromagnetic fields journal May 2019
Non-adiabatic molecular dynamics of molecules in the presence of strong light-matter interactions journal October 2019
Benchmark ab initio calculations on intermolecular structures and the exciton character of poly( p -phenylenevinylene) dimers journal January 2020
Signatures of Strong Vibronic Coupling Mediating Coherent Charge Transfer in Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy journal August 2019
The Potential of EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB for Radiation Based Techniques journal March 2019
Non-Adiabatic Molecular Dynamics of Molecules in the Presence of Strong Light-Matter Interactions text January 2019

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