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Register a new userOrigin of long-lived oscillations in 2D-spectra of a Quantum Vibronic Model: Electronic vs Vibrational coherence
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We demonstrate that the coupling of excitonic and vibrational motion in biological complexes can provide mechanisms to explain the long-lived oscillations that have been obtained in non linear spectroscopic signals of different photosynthetic pigment protein complexes and we discuss the contributions of excitonic versus purely vibrational components to these oscillatory features. Considering a dimer model coupled to a structured spectral density we exemplify the fundamental aspects of the electron-phonon dynamics, and by analyzing separately the different contributions to the non linear signal, we show that for realistic parameter regimes purely electronic coherence is of the same order as purely vibrational coherence in the electronic ground state. Moreover, we demonstrate how the latter relies upon the excitonic interaction to manifest. These results link recently proposed microscopic, non-equilibrium mechanisms to support long lived coherence at ambient temperatures with actual experimental observations of oscillatory behaviour using 2D photon echo techniques to corroborate the fundamental importance of the interplay of electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom in the dynamics of light harvesting aggregates.
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Natural and artificial light harvesting processes have recently gained new interest. Signatures of long lasting coherence in spectroscopic signals of biological systems have been repeatedly observed, albeit their origin is a matter of ongoing debate, as it is unclear how the loss of coherence due to interaction with the noisy environments in such systems is averted. Here we report experimental and theoretical verification of coherent exciton-vibrational (vibronic) coupling as the origin of long-lasting coherence in an artificial light harvester, a molecular J-aggregate. In this macroscopically aligned tubular system, polarization controlled 2D spectroscopy delivers an uncongested and specific optical response as an ideal foundation for an in-depth theoretical description. We derive analytical expressions that show under which general conditions vibronic coupling leads to prolonged excited-state coherence.
The two-dimensional spectroscopy has recently revealed oscillatory behavior of excitation dynamics in molecular systems. However, in the majority of cases it is strongly debated if excitonic or vibrational wavepackets, or evidences of quantum transport have been observed. In this letter, the method for distinguishing between vibrational and excitonic wavepacket motion is presented, based on the phase and amplitude relationships of oscillations of distinct peaks, which has been revealed using fundamental analysis of two-dimensional spectrum of two representative systems.
We introduce a heterodimer model in which multiple mechanisms of vibronic coupling and their impact on energy transfer can be explicitly studied. We consider vibronic coupling that arises through either Franck-Condon activity in which each site in the heterodimer has a local electron-phonon coupling and as Herzberg-Teller activity in which the transition dipole moment coupling the sites has an explicit vibrational mode-dependence. We have computed two-dimensional electronic-vibrational (2DEV) spectra for this model while varying the magnitude of these two effects and find that 2DEV spectra contain static and dynamic signatures of both types of vibronic coupling. Franck-Condon activity emerges through a change in the observed excitonic structure while Herzberg-Teller activity is evident in the appearance of significant side-band transitions that mimic the lower-energy excitonic structure. A comparison of quantum beating patterns obtained from analysis of the simulated 2DEV spectra shows that this technique can report on the mechanism of energy transfer, elucidating a means of experimentally determining the role of specific vibronic coupling mechanisms in such processes.
Helices are a key folding motif in protein structure. The question which factors determine helix stability for a given polypeptide or protein is an ongoing challenge. Here we use van der Waals corrected density-functional theory to address a part of this question in a bottom-up approach. We show how intrinsic helical structure is stabilized with length and temperature for a series of experimentally well studied unsolvated alanine based polypeptides, Ac-Alan-LysH+. By exploring extensively the conformational space of these molecules, we find that helices emerge as the preferred structure in the length range n=4-8 not just due to enthalpic factors (hydrogen bonds and their cooperativity, van der Waals dispersion interactions, electrostatics), but importantly also by a vibrational entropic stabilization over competing conformers at room temperature. The stabilization is shown to be due to softer low-frequency vibrational modes in helical conformers than in more compact ones. This observation is corroborated by including anharmonic effects explicitly through emph{ab initio} molecular dynamics, and generalized by testing different terminations and considering larger helical peptide models.
A general theory of electronic excitations in aggregates of molecules coupled to intramolecular vibrations and the harmonic environment is developed for simulation of the third-order nonlinear spectroscopy signals. The model is applied in studies of the time-resolved two-dimensional coherent spectra of four characteristic model systems: weakly / strongly vibronically coupled molecular dimers coupled to high / low frequency intramolecular vibrations. The results allow us to classify the typical spectroscopic features as well as to define the limiting cases, when the long-lived quantum coherences are present due to vibrational lifetime borrowing, when the complete exciton-vibronic mixing occurs and when separation of excitonic and vibrational coherences is proper.
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