A theory of the photon echo is presented for excitation of the vibrational–rotational transitions in a polyatomic molecule followed by the process of intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR). A model is considered that includes a description of IVR using the general statistical properties of chaotic states rather than phenomenological. Special attention is paid to the echo signals at the delay times that are considerably larger than the characteristic times of IVR. It is shown that echo measurements for the far plateau of the IVR curve can provide, directly or indirectly, determination of the so-called dilution factors; their values are of primary importance for estimating effective density of the molecular states that participate in IVR. Differences between the echo and anti-Stokes Raman scattering, really used for the same purposes, are discussed.
A theory of the photon echo is presented for excitation of the vibrational–rotational transitions in a polyatomic molecule followed by the process of intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR). A model is considered that includes a description of IVR using the general statistical properties of chaotic states rather than phenomenological. Special attention is paid to the echo signals at the delay times that are considerably larger than the characteristic times of IVR. It is shown that echo measurements for the far plateau of the IVR curve can provide, directly or indirectly, determination of the so-called dilution factors; their values are of primary importance for estimating effective density of the molecular states that participate in IVR. Differences between the echo and anti-Stokes Raman scattering, really used for the same purposes, are discussed.
The development of accurate tools to characterize Intramolecular Vibrational Redistribution (IVR) is of major interest in chemistry. In this context, surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopies stand up as well-established techniques to study molecular vibrational lines and populations with a sensitivity that can reach the single-molecule level. However, to date, this possibility has not been fully developed to address IVR. Here, we establish a quantum mechanical framework based on molecular optomechanics that accounts for IVR, and we adopt it to analyze strategies to optimize IVR characterization by surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy. In particular, we model two different pump-and-probe configurations where the vibrational pumping is provided either by infrared laser illumination or by Stokes scattering processes in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). We show for the two pumping configurations the existence of clear signatures on the anti-Stokes SERS spectra of population transfer between coupled vibrational modes in a molecule. Our calculations adopt realistic molecular and SERS parameters, suggesting that these signatures of IVR could be accessible at the single-molecule level within realistic experimental platforms.
The dilution factor is a measure of the intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) an excited state undergoes. The distribution of dilution factors for a single molecule (SCCl2) was examined. Stimulated emission pumping (SEP) experiments were performed on SCCl2, probing the 7000--8,000 cm-1 range on the ground electronic state from first excited state and the 7,000--10,000+ cm-1 range from the second electronic state. An extended cross correlation analysis was applied to obtain more accurate measurements of dilution factors. Simulated SEP spectra were constructed according to two theoretical models: a globally random Golden Rule model and a locally random analytical model. Autocorrelation of the experimental and simulated differences revealed a simple and robust method of analyzing the distribution of dilution factors within a spectrum.
We report a fully quantum-dynamical study of the intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) in the electronic ground state of carbonyl sulfide, which is a prototype of an isolated many-body quantum system with strong internal couplings and non-Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) behavior. We pay particular attention to the role of many-body localization and the approach to thermalization, which currently are topics of considerable interest, as they pertain to the very foundations of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. We employ local-mode (valence) coordinates and consider initial excitations localized in one local mode, with energies ranging from low to near the dissociation threshold, where the classical dynamics have been shown to be chaotic. We propagate the nuclear wavepacket on the potential energy surface by means of the numerically exact multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree method and employ mean local energies, time-dependent and time-averaged populations in quantum number space, energy distributions, entanglement entropies, local population distributions, microcanonical averages, and dissociation probabilities, as diagnostic tools. This allows us to identify a continuous localization → delocalization transition in the energy flow, associated with the onset of quantum chaos, as the excitation energy increases up to near the dissociation threshold. Moreover, we find that at this energy and ∼1 ps the molecule nearly thermalizes. Furthermore, we observe that IVR is so slow that the molecule begins to dissociate well before such quasi-thermalization is complete, in accordance with earlier classical-mechanical predictions of non-RRKM behavior.
Mechanisms of intermolecular dephasings revealed in the time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectra of a molecular ensemble are theoretically studied by deriving the microscopical expression for the scattered photon intensity averaged over the heat-bath variables. The intermolecular dephasing means the decay of the intermolecular coherence created by the pumping process, i.e., a linear combination of the vibrational Raman transitions of the molecules at different sites. The intensity of the time-resolved CARS is expressed in terms of time-development matrix elements of the intermolecular coherence. An equation of motion for the intermolecular coherence is derived by using the projection operator method. The structure of the intermolecular-dephasing constant is clarified. The intermolecular-dephasing constant consists of the sum of population decay constants and the intermolecular pure dephasing constant that originates from an elastic interaction between the relevant molecules and a common heat-bath mode. The intermolecular pure dephasing constant is expressed in terms of the intramolecular pure dephasing constants and destructive interference of the intramolecular pure dephasings between the relevant two molecules. The intermolecular-dephasing constant is expressed as the sum of the intramolecular-dephasing constants of the relevant molecules when there is no common heat-bath mode. Inhomogeneous effects on the time-resolved CARS spectra are also investigated. A degree of the structural order is introduced to qualitatively express the inhomogeneity of local structures in the molecular ensemble. The microscopic expression derived in this paper has taken into account both incoherent and coherent optical processes in the thermally distributed molecular ensemble.
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.