skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Numerical tests of coherence-corrected surface hopping methods using a donor-bridge-acceptor model system

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5092999· OSTI ID:1532718
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow (Russia)
  4. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

Surface hopping (SH) is a popular mixed quantum-classical method for modeling nonadiabatic excited state processes in molecules and condensed phase materials. The method is simple, efficient, and easy to implement, but the use of classical and independent nuclear trajectories introduces an overcoherence in the electronic density matrix which, if ignored, often leads to spurious results, such as overestimated reaction rates. Several methods have been proposed to incorporate decoherence into SH simulations, but a lack of insightful benchmarks makes their relative accuracy unknown. Herein, we run numerical simulations of common coherence-corrected SH methods including Truhlar’s decay-of-mixing (DOM) and Subotnik’s augmented SH using a Donor-bridge-Acceptor (DbA) model system. Numerical simulations are carried out in the superexchange regime, where charge transfer proceeds from a donor to an acceptor as a result of donor-bridge and bridge-acceptor couplings. The computed donor-to-acceptor reaction rates are compared to the reference Marcus theory results. For the DbA model under consideration, augmented SH recovers Marcus theory with quantitative accuracy, whereas DOM is only qualitatively accurate depending on whether predefined parameters in the decoherence rate are chosen wisely. We propose a general method for parameterizing the decoherence rate in the DOM method, which improves the method’s reaction rates and presumably increases its transferability. Altogether, the decoherence method of choice must be chosen with great care and this work provides insight using an exactly solvable model.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1532718
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-19-20761
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 150, Issue 19; ISSN 0021-9606
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 16 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (66)

Coherent switching with decay of mixing: An improved treatment of electronic coherence for non-Born–Oppenheimer trajectories journal January 2004
The PYXAID Program for Non-Adiabatic Molecular Dynamics in Condensed Matter Systems journal October 2013
Surface hopping, transition state theory, and decoherence. II. Thermal rate constants and detailed balance journal October 2015
Rapid Decoherence Suppresses Charge Recombination in Multi-Layer 2D Halide Perovskites: Time-Domain Ab Initio Analysis journal March 2018
Non-Hermitian surface hopping journal January 2017
Charge transfer and transport in DNA journal October 1998
Proton transfer in solution: Molecular dynamics with quantum transitions journal September 1994
Branching corrected surface hopping: Resetting wavefunction coefficients based on judgement of wave packet reflection journal April 2019
Persistent Electronic Coherence Despite Rapid Loss of Electron–Nuclear Correlation journal November 2013
Communication: Standard surface hopping predicts incorrect scaling for Marcus’ golden-rule rate: The decoherence problem cannot be ignored journal November 2011
Superexchange and electron transfer in the photosynthetic reaction center journal August 1989
Nonadiabatic charge dynamics in novel solar cell materials: Nonadiabatic charge dynamics in novel solar cell materials journal March 2017
Decoherence-induced surface hopping journal December 2012
Understanding the Surface Hopping View of Electronic Transitions and Decoherence journal May 2016
Mean field approximation for the stochastic Schrödinger equation journal November 1999
Mixed quantum-classical dynamics for charge transport in organics journal January 2015
Halide Composition Controls Electron–Hole Recombination in Cesium–Lead Halide Perovskite Quantum Dots: A Time Domain Ab Initio Study journal March 2018
Nonadiabatic Excited-State Molecular Dynamics Modeling of Photoinduced Dynamics in Conjugated Molecules journal May 2011
Decoherence in Combined Quantum Mechanical and Classical Mechanical Methods for Dynamics as Illustrated for Non-Born–Oppenheimer Trajectories book January 2007
Nonadiabatic Excited-State Molecular Dynamics: Modeling Photophysics in Organic Conjugated Materials journal February 2014
Interplay between Localized and Free Charge Carriers Can Explain Hot Fluorescence in the CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 Perovskite: Time-Domain Ab Initio Analysis journal November 2017
Nonadiabatic dynamics of electron transfer in solution: Explicit and implicit solvent treatments that include multiple relaxation time scales journal January 2014
C HEMICAL D YNAMICS AT M ETAL S URFACES journal October 2000
Quantum decoherence in mixed quantum‐classical systems: Nonadiabatic processes journal November 1995
How Donor−Bridge−Acceptor Energetics Influence Electron Tunneling Dynamics and Their Distance Dependences journal January 2011
Role of Donor−Acceptor Strengths and Separation on the Two-Photon Absorption Response of Cytotoxic Dyes:  A TD-DFT Study journal August 2005
Electron and energy transfer in donor–acceptor systems with conjugated molecular bridges journal January 2007
Mixed quantum-classical equilibrium in global flux surface hopping journal June 2015
Long-range electron transfer journal February 2005
Theoretical Perspectives on Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Reactions journal April 2001
Comparison of surface hopping and mean field approaches for model proton transfer reactions journal June 1999
Algorithmic decoherence time for decay-of-mixing non–Born–Oppenheimer dynamics journal July 2008
Communication: Proper treatment of classically forbidden electronic transitions significantly improves detailed balance in surface hopping journal June 2016
Breaking the Phonon Bottleneck in PbSe and CdSe Quantum Dots: Time-Domain Density Functional Theory of Charge Carrier Relaxation journal December 2008
Improvement of the Internal Consistency in Trajectory Surface Hopping journal November 1999
Intramolecular Long-Distance Electron Transfer in Organic Molecules journal April 1988
Nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics: Treatment of electronic decoherence journal June 2013
A new approach to decoherence and momentum rescaling in the surface hopping algorithm journal January 2011
Electron Transfer and Electronic Conduction through an Intervening Medium journal August 2008
Intramolecular Charge Transfer in Aromatic Free Radicals journal August 1961
Global Flux Surface Hopping Approach for Mixed Quantum-Classical Dynamics journal June 2014
On the accuracy of surface hopping dynamics in condensed phase non-adiabatic problems journal March 2016
Surface-hopping modeling of photoinduced relaxation dynamics on coupled potential-energy surfaces journal October 1997
Fewest-Switches Surface Hopping and Decoherence in Multiple Dimensions journal November 2011
Dynamics of Photoinduced Charge Separation and Charge Recombination in Synthetic DNA Hairpins with Stilbenedicarboxamide Linkers journal March 2000
Confronting surface hopping molecular dynamics with Marcus theory for a molecular donor–acceptor system journal January 2016
Fewest Switches Surface Hopping in Liouville Space journal September 2015
Mean-field dynamics with stochastic decoherence (MF-SD): A new algorithm for nonadiabatic mixed quantum/classical molecular-dynamics simulations with nuclear-induced decoherence journal December 2005
Tunneling Barrier Effects on Photoinduced Charge Transfer through Covalent Rigid Rod-Like Bridges journal January 2009
Electron Tunneling through Oligo- p -xylene Bridges journal October 2008
Nonradiative Electron–Hole Recombination Rate Is Greatly Reduced by Defects in Monolayer Black Phosphorus: Ab Initio Time Domain Study journal February 2016
How to recover Marcus theory with fewest switches surface hopping: Add just a touch of decoherence journal December 2012
Donor-bridge-acceptor energetics determine the distance dependence of electron tunneling in DNA journal September 2002
Simultaneous-trajectory surface hopping: A parameter-free algorithm for implementing decoherence in nonadiabatic dynamics journal April 2011
Cooperative enhancement of the nonlinear optical response in conjugated energetic materials: A TD-DFT study journal March 2017
Including quantum decoherence in surface hopping journal October 2010
Communication: Global flux surface hopping in Liouville space journal November 2015
Exploring the Role of Decoherence in Condensed-Phase Nonadiabatic Dynamics:  A Comparison of Different Mixed Quantum/Classical Simulation Algorithms for the Excited Hydrated Electron journal October 2006
Quantum decoherence and the isotope effect in condensed phase nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations journal April 1996
A comparative study of different methods for calculating electronic transition rates journal March 2018
Molecular dynamics with electronic transitions journal July 1990
Theoretical Insights into Photoinduced Charge Transfer and Catalysis at Oxide Interfaces journal December 2012
Evaluation of quantum transition rates from quantum-classical molecular dynamics simulations journal October 1997
Semiclassical evaluation of nonadiabatic rates in condensed phases journal July 1993
Chemical Dynamics in Condensed Phases book April 2006
On the accuracy of surface hopping dynamics in condensed phase non-adiabatic problems text January 2016

Cited By (3)

Excited-state dynamics of molecules with classically driven trajectories and Gaussians journal September 2019
Excited-state dynamics of molecules with classically driven trajectories and Gaussians text January 2019
Excited-state dynamics of molecules with classically driven trajectories and Gaussians text January 2019