The EEL epectrum of the triplet exciton of C60 and the theoretical analysis of its vibronic structure

The electron energy loss (EEL) spectrum of the triplet exciton of the (111) surface of solid C₆₀ has been recorded at 105 K. Its rich vibronic structure is suggestive of a high degree of molecular distortion that occurs upon excitation. The static Jahn-Teller distortion of the isolated molecule, along the adiabatic potential energy surface of T₁, is determined by quantum-chemical calculations and the relaxed molecular structure is found to belong to the D_5d point group symmetry. The vibrational force field is evaluated at the distorted structure and used to simulate the EEL intensities of phonon-assisted transitions in the strong coupling regime.