Excited-State Dynamics of Overlapped Optically-Allowed 1Bu+ and Optically-Forbidden 1Bu- or 3Ag- Vibronic Levels of Carotenoids: Possible Roles in the Light-Harvesting Function

The unique excited-state properties of the overlapped (diabatic) optically-allowed 1Bu+ and the optically-forbidden 1Bu- or 3Ag- vibronic levels close to conical intersection (‘the diabatic pair’) are summarized: Pump-probe spectroscopy after selective excitation with ~100 fs pulses of all-trans car...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rebecca Christiana, Takeshi Miki, Yoshinori Kakitani, Yasushi Koyama, Hiroyoshi Nagae
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2010-04-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/11/4/1888/
Description
Summary:The unique excited-state properties of the overlapped (diabatic) optically-allowed 1Bu+ and the optically-forbidden 1Bu- or 3Ag- vibronic levels close to conical intersection (‘the diabatic pair’) are summarized: Pump-probe spectroscopy after selective excitation with ~100 fs pulses of all-trans carotenoids (Cars) in nonpolar solvent identified a symmetry selection rule in the diabatic electronic mixing and diabatic internal conversion, i.e., ‘1Bu+-to-1Bu- is allowed but 1Bu+-to-3Ag- is forbidden’. On the other hand, pump-probe spectroscopy after coherent excitation with ~30 fs of all-trans Cars in THF generated stimulated emission with quantum beat, consisting of the long-lived coherent diabatic cross term and a pair of short-lived incoherent terms.
ISSN:1422-0067