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

Title: Electron correlations and two-photon states in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules: A peculiar role of geometry

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4867363· OSTI ID:22253474
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States)
  2. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, Mumbai 400076 (India)

We present numerical studies of one- and two-photon excited states ordering in a number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules: coronene, hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene, and circumcoronene, all possessing D{sub 6h} point group symmetry versus ovalene with D{sub 2h} symmetry, within the Pariser-Parr-Pople model of interacting π-electrons. The calculated energies of the two-photon states as well as their relative two-photon absorption cross-sections within the interacting model are qualitatively different from single-particle descriptions. More remarkably, a peculiar role of molecular geometry is found. The consequence of electron correlations is far stronger for ovalene, where the lowest spin-singlet two-photon state is a quantum superposition of pairs of lowest spin triplet states, as in the linear polyenes. The same is not true for D{sub 6h} group hydrocarbons. Our work indicates significant covalent character, in valence bond language, of the ground state, the lowest spin triplet state and a few of the lowest two-photon states in D{sub 2h} ovalene but not in those with D{sub 6h} symmetry.

OSTI ID:
22253474
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 140, Issue 10; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

LABORATORY PHOTO-CHEMISTRY OF PAHs: IONIZATION VERSUS FRAGMENTATION
Journal Article · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal Letters · OSTI ID:22253474

Properties of the low-lying electronic states of phenanthrene: Exact PPP results
Journal Article · Sat Oct 05 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · International Journal of Quantum Chemistry · OSTI ID:22253474

Theoretical studies of relaxation and optical properties of polymers
Miscellaneous · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · OSTI ID:22253474