Exciton dynamics in molecular crystals from line shape analysis the effect of crystal strain

Experimental data are presented showing effects on the polarized reflection spectrum, from the (001) face of crystalline anthracene which arise upon cooling from room temperature to 80°K. Different crystal mounting methods and different crystal thicknesses are considered. The band profile of only the b-polarized (0—0) region is distorted and a new resonance detected near 25290 cm?¹ at crystal temperatures below 120°K with an intensity dependent on the method of crystal mounting and rate of cooling. This resonance disappears with time. The results ate explained using a theory of submicroscopic voids in the crystal if the crystal has 10^?4 of its volume in the form of extremely thin planar dislocations almost to the direction of light propagation in the crystal.     

Exciton dynamics in molecular crystals from line shape analysis. Spectral moment analysis of the origin region of the 4000 Å transition of crystal anthracene

A spectral moment analysis of the line shape function ω?₂(ω) in the region of the (0—0) band of the 4000 ŹB_2u ← ¹A_g transition in crystal anthracene at various temperatures is performed. The data are compared with the predictions of three coupling models, viz., weak exciton—photon with weak exciton—phonon coupling, strong exciton—photon with weak exciton—phonon coupling, weak exciton—photon with strong exciton—phonon coupling. The terms contributing to each spectral moment for each model are rendered explicit. The experimental data indicate that the exciton—intermolecular phonon coupling is primarily weak. The exciton interacts with optical phonons of about 90 cm^-1 frequency with a coupling strength of about 140 cm^-1 , a value near that predicted by a weak coupling model. The coupling strength is nearly the same irrespective of whether the exciton is created by b- or a-polarized light probably indicative of the importance of higher multipole contributions to the coupling although the existence of strong interband scattering could affect that suggestion. The coupling parameters g_op and g_ac are about 10^-1 and 10^-4 respectively.     

Exciton dynamics in molecular crystals from line shape analysis. The use of spectral moments and correlation functions

A method for elucidating exciton dynamics from the profile of ω?_i(ω) is developed and illustrated by using anthracene crystal reflectance data. From the Green's function for the exciton-phonon system, terms contributing to each spectral moment are rendered explicit. The Green's function is related to certain correlation functions which together with the spectral moments are evaluated from the spectral data.     

The nature of singlet excitons in oligoacene molecular crystals

A theory for polarized absorption in crystalline oligoacenes is presented, which includes Frenkel exciton coupling, the coupling between Frenkel and charge-transfer (CT) excitons, and the coupling of all neutral and ionic excited states to the dominant ring-breathing vibrational mode. For tetracene, spectra calculated using all Frenkel couplings among the five lowest energy molecular singlet states predict a Davydov splitting (DS) of the lowest energy (0-0) vibronic band of only -32 cm(-1), far smaller than the measured value of 631 cm(-1) and of the wrong sign-a negative sign indicating that the polarizations of the lower and upper Davydov components are reversed from experiment. Inclusion of Frenkel-CT coupling dramatically improves the agreement with experiment, yielding a 0-0 DS of 601 cm(-1) and a nearly quantitative reproduction of the relative spectral intensities of the 0-n vibronic components. Our analysis also shows that CT mixing increases with the size of the oligoacenes. We discuss the implications of these results on exciton dissociation and transport.     

Two-photon excitation into low-energy singlet states of anthracene in mixed crystals

The two-photon excitation spectrum of the first excited state of anthracene in fluorene and biphenyl at 4.2 K has been measured. Intensity is induced into the origin by the static dipole moment of fluorene, and into b_1u vibrons through coupling to an A_g state near 29400 cm⁻¹; the nature of this A_g state is discussed.     

Micellar crystals in solution from molecular dynamics simulations

Polymers with both soluble and insoluble blocks typically self-assemble into micelles, which are aggregates of a finite number of polymers where the soluble blocks shield the insoluble ones from contact with the solvent. Upon increasing concentration, these micelles often form gels that exhibit crystalline order in many systems. In this paper, we present a study of both the dynamics and the equilibrium properties of micellar crystals of triblock polymers using molecular dynamics simulations. Our results show that equilibration of single micelle degrees of freedom and crystal formation occur by polymer transfer between micelles, a process that is described by transition state theory. Near the disordered (or melting) transition, bcc lattices are favored for all triblocks studied. Lattices with fcc ordering are also found but only at lower kinetic temperatures and for triblocks with short hydrophilic blocks. Our results lead to a number of theoretical considerations and suggest a range of implications to experimental systems with a particular emphasis on Pluronic polymers.     

Interaction of charge transfer excitons with phonons in molecular crystals

Interaction of charge transfer excitons with phonons due to modulation of the Coulomb electron-hole attraction by lattice oscillations is considered. Such interaction leads in some cases to self-trapping of CT excitons and, as a result, to the hopping character of their migration in the crystal. Spectra of optical absorption with the excitation of these states take the form of broad gaussian curves.     

Time resolved fluorescence of anthracene in mixed crystals at 2K

An optical Kerr shuttered spectrograph has been used to time resolve the spontaneous fluorescence of aromatic mixed crystal systems at low temperature with moderate resolution. Transient effects on the fluorescence of anthracene in naphthalene excited with 614 cm^?1 vibrational excess energy in ¹B_2u have been observed that may signal measurable vibrational relaxation pathways. A model consistent with these observations is presented: it implicates a strong interaction between the intramolecular Franck—Condon and non-Franck—Condon modes in the relaxation process for specific excitation in the region of large excess lattice energy. Examination of the fluorescence for several aromatic systems integrated over the interval 0 to 30 ps following excitation high in the S₁ vibrational manifold failed to reveal evidence of non-Boltzmann vibrational distributions, although other largely unexplained effects have been observed.     

Delayed-fluorescence ODMR and EPR studies of triplet excitons in charge-transfer molecular crystals

Triplet excitons in electron donor—acceptor charge-transfer (CT) molecular crystals are generated through the intersystem crossing process by excitation in the CT visible band and give rise to delayed fluorescence. Delayed-fluorescence optically detected magnetic resonance (DF ODMR) in magnetic field is analyzed in terms of microwave-induced transitions between energy levels of either the isolated triplet excitons or the annihilating triplet exciton pair. The spin polarization of the triplet excitons plays an important role in the described phenomena. A comparison between DF ODMR and EPR spectra of the anthracene—tetracyanobenzene and biphenyl—tetracyanobenzene systems is presented. In the former case the microwave transitions occurring between free exciton sublevels are predominantly responsible of the DF ODMR signal, whereas the transitions between energy levels of the exciton pair are the most important for biphenyl—TCNB.     

Polarization energy of a localized charge in a molecular crystal. VI. Effect of excitons

The polarization energy of a localized charge carrier in a molecular crystal changes by ΔP near an exciton, viewed as a localized excited molecule of changed polarizability. Experimental polarizability changes in the first excited singlet state are used to calculate ΔP for various carrier and exciton positions in benzene, naphthalene, anthracene and tetracene. As the excited-state polarizability is larger, ΔP is normally negative, with minima ranging from ?12 meV in benzene to ?83 meV in tetracene. The change in charge-quadrupole energy ΔW_Q is estimated for naphthalene using a theoretical quadrupole moment for the first triplet state. At most sites |ΔW_Q| > |ΔP|, but the sign of ΔW_Q varies. The net exciton interaction with electrons in naphthalene varies from ?49 to +45 meV and with holes from ?106 to +29 meV. This behaviour is broadly complementary to that previously calculated for vacancies.     

The source of excess linewidth in EPR of triplet excitons in molecular crystals

It is shown that the EPR linewidth spectrum of triplet excitons in molecular crystals can be severely distorted by weak orientational disorder. The demonstration employs a one-parameter correction procedure based on the assumption that the angular dependence of excess width is directly proportional to the angular gradient of the resonant field. Application to the discrepant data of Haarer and Wolf brings them into agreement with theory and with more recent experiments. A phenomenological model of the disorder is used to interpret the distortion parameter. These results suggest the potential value of exciton EPR as a probe of structural imperfections in molecular crystals.     

Intersystem crossing from singlet states of molecular dimers and monomers in mixed molecular crystals: picosecond stimulated photon echo experiments

An experimental study of the excited-state dynamics of pentacene dimers and monomers in p-terphenyl host crystals is presented. Picosecond stimulated photon echoes, picosecond photon echoes, and fluorescence lifetime measurements are used to study intersystem crossing and homogeneous dephasing of delocalized dimers and monomers at 1.8 K. It is found that the dimer states can have intersystem crossing rate constants which are orders of magnitude greater than the corresponding monomers. Three mechanisms are considered to explain the differences between dimer and monomer intersystem crossing. Fluorescence lifetime measurements and photon echo measurements demonstrate that the only source of homogeneous line broadening at 1.8 K is population relaxation. These measurements combined with the stimulated echo measurements show that differences in lifetimes exhibited by the various dimer and various monomer sites are due solely to differences in intersystem crossing rate constants.     

Polarization interactions in lattice dynamics of molecular crystals

The contribution to lattice dynamics of molecular crystals of polarization interactions due to dipoles induced by the molecular multipolar field has been evaluated by calculation of the lattice frequencies of crystalline ammonia. It has been found that this contribution is small but not negligible.     

The kinetics of diffusion-controlled reactions in anisotropic systems. Exciton trapping, detrapping and heterofusion in molecular crystals

The kinetic equations describing diffusion controlled trapping and heterofusion of excitons in molecular crystals are presented. The equations are valid for anisotropic diffusion, and contain terms describing effects due to correlation of the traps and percolation. The dependence of heterofusion on homofusion and on trapping is shown.     

Spectroscopic investigation of local molecular dynamics in liquid crystals II. Polymers

In the analysis of spectroscopic data from liquid crystals consisting of either small molecules or polymer chains, it is essential that account be taken of some particular features due to the oriented nature of the phases investigated. For liquid crystal polymers some specific additional problems arise, such as the difficulties in orienting main-chain liquid crystal polymers, the occurrence of the glass-liquid transition and secondary transitions. These questions are first discussed, then the studies performed using ²H and ¹³C N.M.R., E.S.R. and dielectric relaxation on both side-chain and main-chain liquid crystal polymers are presented.     

Time series analysis of ion dynamics in glassy ionic conductors obtained by a molecular dynamics simulation

We present several characteristics of ionic motion in glassy ionic conductors brought out by time series analysis of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation data. Time series analysis of data obtained by MD simulation can provide crucial information to describe, understand and predict the dynamics in many systems. The data have been treated by the singular spectrum analysis (SSA), which is a method to extract information from noisy short time series and thus provide insight into the unknown or partially unknown dynamics of the underlying system that generated the time series. Phase-space plot reconstructed using the principal components of SSA exhibited complex but clear structures, suggesting the deterministic nature of the dynamics.     

Localization and coherent dynamics of excitons in the two-dimensional optical spectrum of molecular J-aggregates

Two-dimensional optical spectra of J-aggregates at low temperature provide a large amount of information about the nature and dynamics of exciton states that is hidden in conventional broad band pump-probe spectra. By using numerical simulations, we study the two-dimensional absorption spectrum and find that it is dominated by a V-shaped negative peak and a blueshifted elliptic positive peak. We demonstrate a simple method to derive the energy dependence of the exciton localization size from the distance between these two features in the zero waiting time experiment. When the waiting time is turned on, the V peak is filled with an extra positive peak resulting from population relaxation. From the time evolution of this peak, energy dependent relaxation rates can be obtained. The oscillations of coherent contributions to the two-dimensional spectrum are not damped by inhomogeneous mechanisms and can be seen clearly.     

Spectroscopic investigation of local molecular dynamics in liquid crystals I. Small molecules

The dynamics of liquid crystal systems, consisting of either small molecules or polymer chains with main-chain or side-chain mesogenic groups, can be investigated using the same spectroscopic techniques which are applied to isotropic systems. This article briefly reviews ¹H, ¹³C and ²H N.M.R. and E.S.R. spectroscopy as well as dielectric relaxation. The particular features related to the oriented nature of the liquid crystal phases are developed. Typical examples of studies performed on small-molecule liquid crystals using these various spectroscopic techniques are described.     

Optical detrapping of charge carriers from surface traps in anthracene crystals

Holes trapped at the surface of an anthracene crystal can be released upon irradiation with a frequency-doubled Nd-laser. Near a 1 M KCl contact the density of filled traps is 10¹⁰ cm^?2. The cross section for optical detrapping is 10^?17 cm².