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Title: Vibronic-structure tracking: A shortcut for vibrationally resolved UV/Vis-spectra calculations

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4898665· OSTI ID:22310732
; ;  [1]
  1. Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster (Germany)

The vibrational coarse structure and the band shapes of electronic absorption spectra are often dominated by just a few molecular vibrations. By contrast, the simulation of the vibronic structure even in the simplest theoretical models usually requires the calculation of the entire set of normal modes of vibration. Here, we exploit the idea of the mode-tracking protocol [M. Reiher and J. Neugebauer, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 1634 (2003)] in order to directly target and selectively calculate those normal modes which have the largest effect on the vibronic band shape for a certain electronic excitation. This is achieved by defining a criterion for the importance of a normal mode to the vibrational progressions in the absorption band within the so-called “independent mode, displaced harmonic oscillator” (IMDHO) model. We use this approach for a vibronic-structure investigation for several small test molecules as well as for a comparison of the vibronic absorption spectra of a truncated chlorophyll a model and the full chlorophyll a molecule. We show that the method allows to go beyond the often-used strategy to simulate absorption spectra based on broadened vertical excitation peaks with just a minimum of computational effort, which in case of chlorophyll a corresponds to about 10% of the cost for a full simulation within the IMDHO approach.

OSTI ID:
22310732
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 141, Issue 16; 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