TY - INPR A1 - Röder, Anja A1 - Petersen, Jens A1 - Issler, Kevin A1 - Fischer, Ingo A1 - Mitric, Roland A1 - Poisson, Lionel T1 - Exploring the Excited-State Dynamics of Hydrocarbon Radicals, Biradicals and Carbenes using Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Field-Induced Surface Hopping Simulations T2 - The Journal of Physical Chemistry A N2 - Reactive hydrocarbon molecules like radicals, biradicals and carbenes are not only key players in combustion processes and interstellar and atmospheric chemistry, but some of them are also important intermediates in organic synthesis. These systems typically possess many low-lying, strongly coupled electronic states. After light absorption, this leads to rich photodynamics characterized by a complex interplay of nuclear and electronic motion, which is still not comprehensively understood and not easy to investigate both experimentally and theoretically. In order to elucidate trends and contribute to a more general understanding, we here review our recent work on excited-state dynamics of open-shell hydrocarbon species using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and field-induced surface hopping simulations, and report new results on the excited-state dynamics of the tropyl and the 1-methylallyl radical. The different dynamics are compared, and the difficulties and future directions of time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and excited state dynamics simulations of open-shell hydrocarbon molecules are discussed. KW - Excited state dynamics KW - Hydrocarbon radicals KW - time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy KW - field-induced surface hopping Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198734 UR - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.9b06346 N1 - This document is the unedited Author’s version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Journal of Physical Chemistry A, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2019, 123, 50, 10643-10662. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.9b06346. ER - TY - THES A1 - Schmitt, Hans-Christian T1 - Deaktivierungsprozesse in isolierten aromatischen Heterocyclen und Pyrenen T1 - Deactivation processes in isolated aromatic heterocycles and pyrenes N2 - In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde erfolgreich eine neue Gasphasen-Apparatur für Photoelektronen-Imaging-Experimente simuliert, aufgebaut und in Verbindung mit einem ps-Lasersystem in Betrieb genommen. Neben dem Aufbau der Apparatur stand die Aufklärung der Dynamik angeregter Zustände von aromatischen Heterocyclen und Pyrenen im Fokus dieser Arbeit. Die untersuchten Moleküle wurden durch Resonanzverstärkte Mehrphotonenionisation in einem Molekularstrahlexperiment sowohl zeit-, als auch frequenzaufgelöst untersucht. N2 - In the presented work a new gas phase apparatus for photoelectron imaging experiments was succesfully simulated, constructed and together with a ps laser system put into operation. Besides the building of the new apparatus, the focus of this work was set to elucidate the excited state dynamics of selected aromatic heterocycles and pyrenes. The examined molecules were investigated by frequency- and time-resolved resonance enhanced multi photon ionisation spectroscopy using a molecular beam experiment. KW - Laserspektroskopie KW - Massenspektrometrie KW - Angeregter Zustand KW - time-resolved spectroscopy Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-155445 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wohlgemuth, Matthias A1 - Miyazaki, Mitsuhiko A1 - Tsukada, Kohei A1 - Weiler, Martin A1 - Dopfer, Otto A1 - Fujii, Masaaki A1 - Mitrić, Roland T1 - Deciphering environment effects in peptide bond solvation dynamics by experiment and theory JF - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics N2 - Most proteins work in aqueous solution and the interaction with water strongly affects their structure and function. However, experimentally the motion of a specific single water molecule is difficult to trace by conventional methods, because they average over the heterogeneous solvation structure of bulk water surrounding the protein. Here, we provide a detailed atomistic picture of the water rearrangement dynamics around the –CONH– peptide linkage in the two model systems formanilide and acetanilide, which simply differ by the presence of a methyl group at the peptide linkage. The combination of picosecond pump–probe time-resolved infrared spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrates that the solvation dynamics at the molecular level is strongly influenced by this small structural difference. The effective timescales for solvent migration triggered by ionization are mainly controlled by the efficiency of the kinetic energy redistribution rather than the shape of the potential energy surface. This approach provides a fundamental understanding of protein hydration and may help to design functional molecules in solution with tailored properties. KW - infrared-spectra KW - hydration dynamics KW - trans-formanilide KW - water migration KW - protein hydration Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159647 UR - http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/cp/c7cp03992a N1 - Accepted Version VL - 19 IS - 33 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Hoche, Joscha A1 - Schmitt, Hans-Christian A1 - Humeniuk, Alexander A1 - Fischer, Ingo A1 - Mitrić, Roland A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. T1 - The mechanism of excimer formation: an experimental and theoretical study on the pyrene dimer T2 - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics N2 - The understanding of excimer formation in organic materials is of fundamental importance, since excimers profoundly influence their functional performance in applications such as light-harvesting, photovoltaics or organic electronics. We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of the ultrafast dynamics of excimer formation in the pyrene dimer in a supersonic jet, which is the archetype of an excimer forming system. We perform simulations of the nonadiabatic photodynamics in the frame of TDDFT that reveal two distinct excimer formation pathways in the gas-phase dimer. The first pathway involves local excited state relaxation close to the initial Franck–Condon geometry that is characterized by a strong excitation of the stacking coordinate exhibiting damped oscillations with a period of 350 fs that persist for several picoseconds. The second excimer forming pathway involves large amplitude oscillations along the parallel shift coordinate with a period of ≈900 fs that after intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution leads to the formation of a perfectly stacked dimer. The electronic relaxation within the excitonic manifold is mediated by the presence of intermolecular conical intersections formed between fully delocalized excitonic states. Such conical intersections may generally arise in stacked π-conjugated aggregates due to the interplay between the long-range and short-range electronic coupling. The simulations are supported by picosecond photoionization experiments in a supersonic jet that provide a time-constant for the excimer formation of around 6–7 ps, in good agreement with theory. Finally, in order to explore how the crystal environment influences the excimer formation dynamics we perform large scale QM/MM nonadiabatic dynamics simulations on a pyrene crystal in the framework of the long-range corrected tight-binding TDDFT. In contrast to the isolated dimer, the excimer formation in the crystal follows a single reaction pathway in which the initially excited parallel slip motion is strongly damped by the interaction with the surrounding molecules leading to the slow excimer stabilization on a picosecond time scale. KW - exciton dynamics KW - pyrene dimer Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159656 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7CP03990E N1 - Submitted version ER - TY - THES A1 - Röder, Anja M. T1 - Excited-State Dynamics in Open-Shell Molecules T1 - Dynamik angeregter Zustände von offenschaligen Molekülen N2 - In this thesis the excited-state dynamics of radicals and biradicals were characterized with femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. These open-shell molecules play important roles as combustion intermediates, in the formation of soot and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in atmospheric chemistry and in the formation of complex molecules in the interstellar medium and galactic clouds. In these processes molecules frequently occur in some excited state, excited either by thermal energy or radiation. Knowledge of the reactivity and dynamics of these excited states completes our understanding of these complex processes. These highly reactive molecules were produced via pyrolysis from suitable precursors and examined in a molecular beam under collision-free conditions. A first laser now excites the molecule, and a second laser ionizes it. Time-of-flight mass spectrometry allowed a first identification of the molecule, photoelectron spectroscopy a complete characterization of the molecule - under the condition that the mass spectrum was dominated by only one mass. The photoelectron spectrum was obtained via velocity-map imaging, providing an insight in the electronic states involved. Ion velocity map imaging allowed separation of signal from direct ionization of the radical in the molecular beam and dissociative photoionization of the precursor. During this thesis a modified pBasex algorithm was developed and implemented in python, providing an image inversion tool without interpolation of data points. Especially for noisy photoelectron images this new algorithm delivers better results. Some highlighted results: • The 2-methylallyl radical was excited in the ππ*-state with different internal energies using three different pump wavelengths (240.6 , 238.0 and 236.0 nm). Ionized with 800 nm multi-photon probe, the photoelectron spectra shows a s-Rydberg fingerprint spectrum, a highly positive photoelectron anisotropy of 1.5 and a bi-exponential decay ( τ1= 141\pm43 fs, τ2= 4.0\pm0.2 ps for 240.6 nm pump), where the second time-constant shortens for lower wavelengths. Field-induced surface hopping dynamics calculations confirm that the initially excited ππ*-state relaxes very fast to an s-Rydberg state (first experimentally observed time-constant), and then more slowly to the first excited state/ground state (second time-constant). With higher excitation energies the conical intersection between the s-Rydberg-state and the first excited state is reached faster, resulting in shorter life-times. • The benzyl radical was excited yith 265 nm and probed with two wavelengths, 798 nm and 398 nm. Probed with 798 nm it shows a bi-exponential decay (\tau_{1}=84\pm5 fs, \tau_{2}=1.55\pm0.12 ps), whereas with 398 nm probe only the first time-constant is observed (\tau_{1}=89\pm5 fs). The photoelectron spectra with 798 nm probe is comparable to the spectrum with 398 nm probe during the first 60 fs, at longer times an additional band appears. This band is due to a [1+3']-process, whereas with 398 nm only signal from a [1+1']-process can be observed. Non-adiabatic dynamic on the fly calculations show that the initially excited, nearly degenerate ππ/p-Rydberg-states relax very fast (first time-constant) to an s-Rydberg state. This s-Rydberg state can no longer be ionized with 398 nm, but with 798 nm ionization via intermediate resonances is still possible. The s-Rydberg state then decays to the first excited state (second time-constant), which is long-lived. • Para-xylylene, excited with 266 nm into the S2-state and probed with 800 nm, shows a bi-exponential decay (\tau_{1}=38\pm7 fs, \tau_{2}=407\pm9 fs). The initially excited S2-state decays quickly to S1-state, which shows dissociative photoionization. The population of the S1-state is directly visible in the masses of the dissociative photoionization products, benzene and the para-xylylene -H. • Ortho-benzyne, produced via pyrolysis from benzocyclobutendione, was excited with 266 nm in the S2 state and probed with 800 nm. In its time-resolved mass spectra the dynamic of the ortho-benzyne signal was superposed with the dynamics from dissociative photoionization of the precursor and of the ortho-benzyne-dimer. With time-resolved ion imaging gated on the ortho-benzyne these processes could be seperated, showing that the S2-state of ortho-benzyne relaxes within 50 fs to the S1-state. N2 - In der vorliegenden Dissertation wurde die Dynamik angeregter Zustände von Radikalen und Biradikalen mittels femtosekunden-zeitaufgelöster Anrege-Abfragespektroskopie untersucht. Radikale und Biradikale sind nicht nur wichtige Zwischenprodukte in Verbrennungsprozessen, sondern auch bei der Bildung von Ruß und polyzyklischen aromatischen Kohlenwasserstoffen beteiligt. Des Weiteren spielen sie eine wichtige Rolle in der Atmosphärenchemie und bei der Bildung komplexer Moleküle im interstellaren Medium. Von entscheidender Bedeutung ist in den genannten Prozessen die Anregung der Radikalen und Biradikale in energetisch höhere Zustände, dies geschieht entweder durch thermische Energie oder mittels Strahlung. Für das Verständnis der ablaufenden Vorgänge ist es zwingend erforderlich die Dynamik der angeregten Zu\-stände zu verstehen. Die Radikale und Biradikale wurden dafür mittels Pyrolyse eines geeigneten Vorläufers erzeugt, und anschließend unter kollisionsfreien Bedingungen im Molekularstrahl spektroskopisch untersucht. Hierbei regt ein erster Laser das Molekül an, ein zweiter Laser ionisiert es. Mittels Flugzeitmassenspektrometrie wurden die Moleküle identifiziert, und mittels Photoelektronenspektroskopie weiter charackterisiert - unter der Bedingung, dass im Massenspektrum eine Masse dominiert. Das Photoelektronenspektrum wurde mittels Velocity-Map Imaging aufgenommen und gibt einen Einblick in den elektronischen Zustand im Augenblick der Ionisations. Die Velocity-Map Imaging-Technik von Ionen erlaubt außerdem die Unterscheidung von Ionen aus direkter Ionisation und dissoziativer Photoionisation. In diesem Rahmen wurde auch ein modifizierter pBasex-Algorithmus entwickelt und in Python implementiert. Dieser kommt im Gegensatz zum herkömmlichen pBasex-Algorithmus komplett ohne Interpolation der Datenpunkte aus. Besonders bei verrauschten Photoelektronenspektren liefert dieser Algorithmus bessere Ergebnisse. Einige Resultate sollten besonders hervorgehoben werden: • Das 2-Methylallylradikal wurde in einen ππ*-Zustand mit drei verschiedenen Anregungswellenängen (240.6, 238.0 und 236.0 nm) angeregt, um eine Variation der inneren Energie innerhalb dieses Zustandes zu ermöglichen. Es wurde mit bis zu drei 800-nm-Photonen ionisiert. Das Photoelektronenspektrum zeigt ein s-Rydberg-photo\-elektronenspektrum, eine positive Photoelektronenanisotropie von 1.5 sowie einen biexponentiellen Zerfall (τ1= 141\pm43 fs, τ2= 4.0\pm0.2 ps für 240.6 nm als Anregelaser). Die zweite Zeitkonstante verkürzt sich mit kürzeren Wellenlängen. Field-induced surface hopping Dynamikrechungen bestätigen, dass der ursprünglich angeregte ππ*-Zustand schnell in einen s-Rydbergzustand relaxiert (erste Zeitkonstante), um dann anschließend langsamer in den ersten angeregten Zustand zu relaxieren (zweite Zeitkonstante). Mit einer höheren inneren Energie wird die konische Durchschneidung zwischen dem s-Rydbergzustand und dem ersten angeregten Zustand schneller erreicht, somit verkürzt sich die zweite Zeitkonstante bei kürzeren Wellenlängen. • Das Benzylradikal zeigt in einem 265 nm Anrege-/798 nm Abfrageexperiment einen biexponentiellen Zerfall (\tau_{1}=84\pm5 fs, \tau_{2}=1.55\pm0.12 ps), wohingegen mit 398 nm lediglich ein monoexponentieller Zerfall sichtbar ist (\tau_{1}=89\pm5 fs). Das 798 nm Abfrage-Photoelektronenspektrum ist in den ersten 60 fs ähnlich dem 398 nm Abfrage-Photoelektronenspektrum, bei späteren Zeiten erscheint eine weitere Bande bei höheren kinetischen Energien der Elektronen. Diese Bande stammt aus einem [1+3']-Prozess, während bei 398 nm nur Signal aus einem [1+1']-Prozess beobachtbar ist. Laut nichtadiabatische Dynamikrechungen relaxiert der ursprünglich angeregte ππ-Zustand bzw. der fast energiegleiche p-Rydbergzustand sehr schnell in einen s-Ryd\-berg\-zu\-stand (erste Zeitkonstante), welcher mit 798 nm über intermediäre Resonanzen noch ionisiert werden kann, aber nicht mehr mit 398 nm. Anschließend relaxiert der s-Ryd\-berg\-zu\-stand in den ersten angeregten, langlebigen Zustand (zweite Zeitkonstante). • Para-Xylylen wurde mit 266 nm in den S2-Zustand angeregt und mit 800 nm in einem Multiphotonenprozess ionisiert. Es zeigt einen biexponentialen Zerfall (\tau_{1}=38\pm7 fs, \tau_{2}=407\pm9 fs). Der ursprünglich angeregte S2-Zustand relaxiert schnell in den S1-Zustand, welcher im Ion dissoziert. Somit lässt sich die Besetzung des S1-Zustands direkt an den Signalen der Dissoziationsprodukte Benzol und dem Wasserstoffabstraktionsprodukt von para-Xylylen verfolgen. • Ortho-Benzin wurde via Pyrolyse des Vorläufers Benzocyclobuten-1,2,-dion hergestellt, mit 266 nm in den S2-Zustand angeregt und mit 800 nm ionisiert. In den zeitaufgelösten Massenspektren wird die Dynamik des ortho-Benzinsignals durch die dissoziative Photoionisationdynamik des Vorläufers und des ortho-Benzindimers überlagert. Mittels zeitaufgelöste Ionenspektren vom ortho-Benzin konnten diese Prozesse voneinander getrennt werden, und es konnte gezeigt werden, dass der S2-Zustand von ortho-Benzin innerhalb von 50 fs in den S1-Zustand relaxiert. N2 - Dans cette thèse, la dynamique des états excités des radicaux et biradicaux a été examinée en utilisant la spectroscopie pompe-sonde résolue en temps à l'échelle femto-seconde. Les molécules à couche ouverte jouent un rôle primordial comme intermédiaires dans les processus de combustion, dans la formation de la suie et des hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques, dans la chimie atmosphérique ou dans la formation des molécules organiques complexes du milieu interstellaire et des nuages galactiques. Dans tous ces processus les molécules sont souvent excitées, soit par échauffement thermique, soit par irradiation. En conséquence la réactivité et la dynamique de ces états excités sont particulièrement intéressantes afin d'obtenir une compréhension globale de ces processus. Dans ce travail les radicaux et biradicaux ont été produits par pyrolyse à partir de molécules précurseur adaptées et ont été examinés dans un jet moléculaire en absence de collisions. Les radicaux sont ensuite portés dans un état excité bien défini, et ionisés avec un deuxième laser. La spectrométrie de masse à temps de vol permet une première identification de la molécule. Via des spectres de photoélectrons la molécule est characterisée, pourvu que le spectre de masse ne montre majoritairement qu'une seule masse. Les spectres de photoélectrons ont été obtenus par l'imagerie de vitesse, permettant d'obtenir des informations sur l'état électronique du radical au moment de l'ionisation. L'imaginerie de vitesse des ions permet de distinguer les ions issus d'une ionisation directe et ceux issus d'une ionisation dissociative. Pendant cette thèse un algorithme modifié de pBasex a été développé et implémenté en langage python: cet algorithme inverse des images sans interpolation des points expérimentaux, il montre une meilleure performance pour le traitement des images bruités. Pour des images bruitées cet algorithme montre une meilleure performance. Quelques résultats sélectionnés: • Le radical de 2-méthylallyle a été excité dans l'état ππ* avec différentes énergies internes en utilisant trois différentes longueurs d'onde de pompe (240.6, 238.0 et 236.0 nm). Après ionisation par un laser 800 nm selon un processus multi-photonique, le spectre de photoélectrons montre le charactéristiques d'un état de Rydberg, une anisotropie des photoélectrons proche de 2 et un déclin biexponentiel (τ1= 141\pm43 fs, τ2= 4.0\pm0.2 ps avec 240.6 nm comme pompe). La deuxième constante de temps se réduit si la longueur d'onde de la pompe diminue. Des calculs de dynamique de saut de surface induite par champ confirment que l'état ππ* initialement excité relaxe très vite dans un état de Rydberg s (première constante de temps expérimentale), qui se relaxe ensuite plus lentement vers le premier état excité (deuxième constante de temps). Avec une excitation plus énergétique, cette intersection conique est atteinte plus vite, de sorte que la seconde constante de temps diminue. • Le radical de benzyle montre un déclin biexponentiel lorsqu'il est excité avec 265 nm et sondé avec 798 nm (\tau_{1}=84\pm5 fs, \tau_{2}=1.55\pm0.12 ps); si on sonde avec 398 nm un seul déclin est mesuré (\tau_{1}=89\pm5 fs). Le spectre de photoélectrons obtenu avec 798 nm comme sonde est comparable à celui avec 398 nm sonde pendant les premières 60 fs. À des temps plus longs une autre bande apparaît, issue d'un processus [1+3'], tandis qu'avec 398 nm seul le processus [1+1'] est visible. Des simulations non-adiabatique de la dynamique montrent que l'état ππ initialement excité relaxe vers un état de Rydberg s (première constante de temps). L'état de Rydberg s ne peut plus être ionisé avec un photon de 398 nm; mais 798 nm l'ionise avec 3 photons en passant par des états intermédiaires. Cet état de Rydberg s se relaxe vers le premier état excité (deuxième constante de temps). • Le para-xylylène a été excité avec 266 nm dans l'état S2. Sondé avec 800 nm, il montre un déclin biexponentiel (\tau_{1}=38\pm7 fs, \tau_{2}=407\pm9 fs). L'état S2 initialement excité se relaxe très vite dans l'état S1, qui se dissocie une fois ionisé. La population de l'état S1 peut donc être directement suivie par l'évolution de ses produits de dissociation, le benzène et le produit d'abstraction d'un hydrogène. • Ortho-benzyne, produit via pyrolyse de benzocyclobutendione, a été excité dans l'état S2 avec 266 nm et ionisé avec 800 nm. Dans les spectres de masse résolus en temps, la dynamique de l'ortho-benzyne a été altérée par la dynamique de photoionisation dissociative du precurseur et du dimère de l'ortho-benzyne. Ces deux processus ont pu néanmoins être différienciés par l'imagerie d'ion d'ortho-benzyne, montrant que l'état S2 d'ortho-benzyne se relaxe vers l'état S1 en 50 fs. KW - Radikal KW - Laserspektroskopie KW - Photoelektronenspektroskopie KW - Angeregter Zustand KW - Massenspektrometrie KW - time-resolved spectroscopy KW - open-shell molecules KW - femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-151738 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wohlgemuth, Matthias A1 - Mitric, Roland T1 - Photochemical Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Alanine JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry A N2 - We introduce a general theoretical approach for the simulation of photochemical dynamics under the influence of circularly polarized light to explore the possibility of generating enantiomeric enrichment through polarized-light-selective photochemistry. The method is applied to the simulation of the photolysis of alanine, a prototype chiral amino acid. We show that a systematic enantiomeric enrichment can be obtained depending on the helicity of the circularly polarized light that induces the excited-state photochemistry of alanine. By analyzing the patterns of the photoinduced fragmentation of alanine we find an inducible enantiomeric enrichment up to 1.7%, which is also in good correspondence to the experimental findings. Our method is generally applicable to complex systems and might serve to systematically explore the photochemical origin of homochirality. KW - circularly-polarized light KW - amino-acids KW - homochirality KW - molecular dynamics KW - dichroism Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158557 UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpca.6b07611 N1 - This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Journal of Physical Chemistry A, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpca.6b07611 VL - 45 IS - 120 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Petersen, Jens A1 - Lindner, Joachim O. A1 - Mitric, Roland T1 - Ultrafast Photodynamics of Glucose T2 - Journal of Physical Chemistry B N2 - We have investigated the photodynamics of \(\beta\)-D-glucose employing our field-induced surface hopping method (FISH), which allows us to simulate the coupled electron-nuclear dynamics, including explicitly nonadiabatic effects and light-induced excitation. Our results reveal that from the initially populated S\(_{1}\) and S\(_{2}\) states, glucose returns nonradiatively to the ground state within about 200 fs. This takes place mainly via conical intersections (CIs) whose geometries in most cases involve the elongation of a single O-H bond, while in some instances ring-opening due to dissociation of a C-O bond is observed. Experimentally, excitation to a distinct excited electronic state is improbable due to the presence of a dense manifold of states bearing similar oscillator strengths. Our FISH simulations explicitly including a UV laser pulse of 6.43 eV photon energy reveals that after initial excitation the population is almost equally spread over several close-lying electronic states. This is followed by a fast nonradiative decay on the time scale of 100-200 fs, with the final return to the ground state proceeding via the S\(_{1}\) state through the same types of CIs as observed in the field-free simulations. KW - photodynamics KW - nonadiabatic dynamics KW - conical intersections KW - carbohydrates Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159155 N1 - This document is the unedited Author’s version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Journal of Physical Chemistry, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see doi:10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b08602 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hoche, Joscha A1 - Schmitt, Hans-Christian A1 - Humeniuk, Alexander A1 - Fischer, Ingo A1 - Mitrić, Roland A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. T1 - The mechanism of excimer formation: an experimental and theoretical study on the pyrene dimer JF - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics N2 - The understanding of excimer formation in organic materials is of fundamental importance, since excimers profoundly influence their functional performance in applications such as light-harvesting, photovoltaics or organic electronics. We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of the ultrafast dynamics of excimer formation in the pyrene dimer in a supersonic jet, which is the archetype of an excimer forming system. We perform simulations of the nonadiabatic photodynamics in the frame of TDDFT that reveal two distinct excimer formation pathways in the gas-phase dimer. The first pathway involves local excited state relaxation close to the initial Franck–Condon geometry that is characterized by a strong excitation of the stacking coordinate exhibiting damped oscillations with a period of 350 fs that persist for several picoseconds. The second excimer forming pathway involves large amplitude oscillations along the parallel shift coordinate with a period of ≈900 fs that after intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution leads to the formation of a perfectly stacked dimer. The electronic relaxation within the excitonic manifold is mediated by the presence of intermolecular conical intersections formed between fully delocalized excitonic states. Such conical intersections may generally arise in stacked π-conjugated aggregates due to the interplay between the long-range and short-range electronic coupling. The simulations are supported by picosecond photoionization experiments in a supersonic jet that provide a time-constant for the excimer formation of around 6–7 ps, in good agreement with theory. Finally, in order to explore how the crystal environment influences the excimer formation dynamics we perform large scale QM/MM nonadiabatic dynamics simulations on a pyrene crystal in the framework of the long-range corrected tight-binding TDDFT. In contrast to the isolated dimer, the excimer formation in the crystal follows a single reaction pathway in which the initially excited parallel slip motion is strongly damped by the interaction with the surrounding molecules leading to the slow excimer stabilization on a picosecond time scale. KW - exciton dynamics KW - pyrene dimer Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159514 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7CP03990E N1 - Accepted version VL - 19 IS - 36 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Lambert, Christoph A1 - Völker, Sebastian F. A1 - Koch, Federico A1 - Schmiedel, Alexander A1 - Holzapfel, Marco A1 - Humeniuk, Alexander A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. A1 - Mitric, Roland A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Energy Transfer Between Squaraine Polymer Sections: From helix to zig-zag and All the Way Back T2 - Journal of the American Chemical Society N2 - Joint experimental and theoretical study of the absorption spectra of squaraine polymers in solution provide evidence that two different conformations are present in solution: a helix and a zig-zag structure. This unique situation allows investigating ultrafast energy transfer processes between different structural segments within a single polymer chain in solution. The understanding of the underlying dynamics is of fundamental importance for the development of novel materials for light-harvesting and optoelectronic applications. We combine here femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy with time-resolved 2D electronic spectroscopy showing that ultrafast energy transfer within the squaraine polymer chains proceeds from initially excited helix segments to zig-zag segments or vice versa, depending on the solvent as well as on the excitation wavenumber. These observations contrast other conjugated polymers such as MEH-PPV where much slower intrachain energy transfer was reported. The reason for the very fast energy transfer in squaraine polymers is most likely a close matching of the density of states between donor and acceptor polymer segments because of very small reorganization energy in these cyanine-like chromophores. KW - energy transfer dynamics KW - squaraine polymer Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159607 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b03644 N1 - This document is the unedited Author's version of a Submitted Work that war subsequently accepted for publication in Journal of the American Chemical Society, copyright American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see doi:10.1021/jacs.5b03644. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. A1 - Lisinetskaya, Polina G. A1 - Mitric, Roland T1 - Excitonic Properties of Ordered Metal Nanocluster Arrays: 2D Silver Clusters at Multiporphyrin Templates JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry A N2 - The design of ordered arrays of metal nanoclusters such as for example 2D cluster organic frameworks might open a new route towards the development of materials with tailored optical properties. Such systems could serve as plasmonically enhanced light-harvesting materials, sensors or catalysts. We present here a theoretical approach for the simulation of the optical properties of ordered arrays of metal clusters that is based on the ab initio parametrized Frenkel exciton model. We demonstrate that small atomically precise silver clusters can be assembled in one- and two-dimensional arrays on suitably designed porphyrin templates exhibiting remarkable optical properties. By employing explicit TDDFT calculations on smaller homologs, we show that the intrinsic optical properties of metal clusters are largely preserved but undergo J- and H-type excitonic coupling that results in controllable splitting of their excited states. Furthermore, ab initio parameterized Frenkel exciton model calculations allow us to predict an energetic splitting of up to 0.77 eV in extended two-dimensional square arrays and 0.79 eV in tilted square aggregates containing up to 25 cluster-porphyrin subunits. KW - Excitons KW - Porphyrin arrays Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159464 UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpca.6b04243 N1 - Accepted version VL - 120 IS - 26 ER -