An approximate excited state vibrational Hamiltonian, He, which accounts for both linear and diagonal quadratic electron-phonon coupling is derived and shown to be adequate for mode frequency changes up to ~30%. The associated linear response function which is valid for finite temperature in the absence of damping is obtained. 2-point correlation function or, equivalently, the line broadening function, g(t;T), that provides a good physical description of pure electronic dephasing and vibrational damping for linearly coupled modes is postulated. A linear response function that accounts for pure electronic dephasing and damping for systems with either linearly or quadratically coupled modes is proposed. Applications of the new linear response function include the single site absorption and hole-burned spectra of the special pair band of the bacterial reaction center and the temperature dependence of the single site absorption spectrum of Al-phthalocyanine tetrasulphonate in glassy ethanol. A 4-point correlation function which is valid for finite temperature in the absence of damping using the approximate excited state vibrational Hamiltonian, He, is derived. An impulsive stimulated photon echo signal for a single-mode system with very large inhomogeneous broadening is calculated using the 4-point correlation function. An expression for ordinary photon echo with two finite pulses is derived. 4-point correlation function for linearly coupled modes is expressed in terms of g(t;T) and can be used to calculate all non-linear spectroscopic signals. Applications of the 4-point correlation function are limited to impulsive 2-pulse photon echo (IPE) signals. IPE signals are generated for different values of the Huang-Rhys factor (S) at a fixed temperature and at different temperatures for a fixed value of S in order to see how the echo profile changes as one varies S or temperature. An initial fast non-exponential decay, which reflects the contribution of the phonon sideband, followed by vibrational oscillations (quantum beats) due to linear electron-phonon coupling and a slow exponential decay, on picosecond time scales, due to the zero-phonon line are observed in the IPE signals. Application of IPE to the special pair absorption band of the bacterial reaction center is also included.
An approximate excited state vibrational Hamiltonian, He, which accounts for both linear and diagonal quadratic electron-phonon coupling is derived and shown to be adequate for mode frequency changes up to ~30%. The associated linear response function which is valid for finite temperature in the absence of damping is obtained. 2-point correlation function or, equivalently, the line broadening function, g(t;T), that provides a good physical description of pure electronic dephasing and vibrational damping for linearly coupled modes is postulated. A linear response function that accounts for pure electronic dephasing and damping for systems with either linearly or quadratically coupled modes is proposed. Applications of the new linear response function include the single site absorption and hole-burned spectra of the special pair band of the bacterial reaction center and the temperature dependence of the single site absorption spectrum of Al-phthalocyanine tetrasulphonate in glassy ethanol. A 4-point correlation function which is valid for finite temperature in the absence of damping using the approximate excited state vibrational Hamiltonian, He, is derived. An impulsive stimulated photon echo signal for a single-mode system with very large inhomogeneous broadening is calculated using the 4-point correlation function. An expression for ordinary photon echo with two finite pulses is derived. 4-point correlation function for linearly coupled modes is expressed in terms of g(t;T) and can be used to calculate all non-linear spectroscopic signals. Applications of the 4-point correlation function are limited to impulsive 2-pulse photon echo (IPE) signals. IPE signals are generated for different values of the Huang-Rhys factor (S) at a fixed temperature and at different temperatures for a fixed value of S in order to see how the echo profile changes as one varies S or temperature. An initial fast non-exponential decay, which reflects the contribution of the phonon sideband, followed by vibrational oscillations (quantum beats) due to linear electron-phonon coupling and a slow exponential decay, on picosecond time scales, due to the zero-phonon line are observed in the IPE signals. Application of IPE to the special pair absorption band of the bacterial reaction center is also included.
While different expressions of homogeneous linear electronic dipole moment time correlation functions and their respective absorption lineshapes of anharmonic systems were derived and discussed at length in part I [Toutounji, M. J. Phys. Chem. B 2010, in press] of this study, the electronic dephasing (zero-phonon line width), caused by pseudolocal phonons, and vibrational relaxation time scales were treated equally, hence, unphysical. In this study electronic dephasing and vibrational structure are correctly accounted for in harmonic and anharmonic multimode systems. Model calculations are presented. Anharmonic hole-burned spectra are calculated using linear anharmonic absorption lineshapes. An analytical expression of hole-burned absorption line shape in terms of the linear dipole moment time correlation function, leading to a hole-burned absorption line shape expressed in time-domain, is reported. An elementary method is utilized to treat nonlinear spectra in anharmonic molecules. The link between a hole-burned spectrum and a 2-pulse photon echo profile is established by combining the theoretical framework of Mukamel and that of Hays-Small, thereby calculating photon echo signals of anharmonic systems. Model photon echo calculations of a solvable harmonic model and an anharmonic system are reported. Applications to Al-phthaolcyanine tetrasulphonate (APT) in hyperquenched glassy ethanol and special pair bacterial reaction center are presented and discussed in detail.
A theory of optical echo spectroscopies of large polyatomic molecules in condensed phases is developed. Using phase space correlation functions, we examine the interrelationships among the following optical measurements: ordinary photon echo, stimulated photon echo, accumulated photon echo, incoherent accumulated photon echo, and pump–probe absorption. Conditions for the elimination of inhomogeneous broadening in these experiments are specified. A multimode Brownian oscillator model is used to account for high frequency molecular vibrations, as well as solvent modes, and electronic dephasing processes. The effects of quantum beats, spectral diffusion, and homogeneous dephasing on the echo signals are studied and compared in detail with pump–probe and hole burning spectroscopy.
We calculate the photon echo decay for a strongly coupled electron–phonon system, without making unrealistic assumptions about excitation pulse durations. We find that asymptotically, the photon echo decay is exponential, and we provide a formal expression for the decay rate 1/T2 which is independent of pulse duration. In contrast to the usual results, our expression for 1/T2 is nonperturbative in the electron–phonon interaction. We calculate the dependences of the echo amplitude on pulse power and duration, finding that the strong electron–phonon coupling modifies the simple two level system result. We also focus on the relationship between the zero phonon line shape in the homogeneous optical absorption spectrum, and the photon echo decay rate. We find that the zero phonon line shape is Lorentzian, with width 1/πT2. We show that the usual optical Bloch equation approach to analyzing time-domain experiments, which normally is only applicable if the electron–phonon coupling is weak, can be extended to the case of strong coupling. These strong coupling Bloch equations are adequate for analyzing the time dependence, but not the pulse power and duration dependences, of time-domain experiments. Our results indicate that within the Condon approximation, electron–phonon coupling cannot explain the very low temperature anomaly of recent photon echo experiments on impurities in molecular crystals.
The multimode Brownian oscillator (MBO) model has been at the forefront in interpreting the subsystem−bath interaction manifestations in optical spectroscopy for probing homogeneous structure of chromophores in crystals and amorphous solids. The spectroscopic consequences of employing the underdamped MBO model with Ohmic dissipation in linear absorption, photon-echo, and hole-burning data of chromophores in solid hosts at low temperatures are investigated. The zero-phonon line (ZPL) in homogeneous linear absorption spectrum, the slow-decay component (due to ZPL) in photon-echo signal, and the zero-phonon hole (ZPH) in hole-burned spectra in host molecular solids at low temperatures are usually resolved from the multiphonon-transitions structure. In the MBO model, the harmonic vibrations (Brownian oscillators) are linearly coupled to bath modes. This coupling, with Ohmic dissipation, results in a maximum contribution of the bath modes to the ZPL region. This contribution affects the width of the ZPL profile, which should only be determined by pure electronic dephasing as dictated by experiments. It is therefore important to study how the MBO model bath modes contribute to the ZPL, ZPH, and slow-decay component profiles. Analytical expressions for the linear absorption spectrum and width and Franck−Condon factor of the ZPL are derived. Homogeneous linear absorption spectra, two-pulse photon-echo, and hole-burning calculations are carried out with model systems of which the parameter values are typical for real systems. The MBO model ZPL, ZPH, and slow-decay component were not seen in linear absorption, hole-burning, and two-pulse photon-echo profiles, respectively. The hole-burned spectrum is produced by blending the line broadening function, g ( t; T ), of the MBO model and Small hole-burning formula. This full (inclusion of Matsubara series) form of g ( t; T ) has not been exploited before in any spectroscopic calculation. It is concluded that the MBO model ZPL and ZPH widths and the electronic exponential decay are better exhibited in the corresponding profiles when using non-Ohmic spectral density.
We present a joint experiment-theory analysis of the temperature-dependent emission spectra, zero-phonon linewidth, and second-order correlation function of light emitted from a single organic molecule. We observe spectra with a zero-phonon line together with several additional sharp peaks, broad phonon sidebands, and a strongly temperature dependent homogeneous broadening. Our model includes both localized vibrational modes of the molecule and a thermal phonon bath, which we include nonperturbatively, and is able to capture all observed features. For resonant driving we measure Rabi oscillations that become increasingly damped with temperature, which our model naturally reproduces. Our results constitute an essential characterization of the photon coherence of molecules, paving the way to their use in future quantum information applications.
A rigorous theoretical connection between the polarizability spectral density obtained from optical Kerr effect (OKE) measurement with the correlation function describing solvent-induced optical dephasing detected in photon echo measurements is given. The experimentally obtained spectral density has a more reasonable physical basis than model correlation function descriptions of solvent fluctuations. The experimental OKE spectrum is demonstrated to provide a natural description of solvent motions that modulate the chromophore electronic states in the case of weak induced-dipolar interactions. The chromophore optically active vibrational modes are obtained from pump-probe spectra and are employed in the calculation of echo signals. It is found that the fast decays of the two-pulse echo signals result from both solvent and solute intramolecular motions while the echo peak shifts are dominated by the solvent intermolecular modes.