Dynamical model of the dielectric screening of conjugated polymers

A dynamical model of the dielectric screening of conjugated polymers is introduced and solved using the density matrix renormalization group method. The model consists of a line of quantized dipoles interacting with a polymer chain. The polymer is modelled by the Pariser-Parr-Pople (P-P-P) model. It is found that: (1) Compared to isolated, unscreened single chains, the screened 1Bu- exciton binding energy is typically reduced by ca. 1 eV to just over 1 eV; (2) Covalent (magnon and bi-magnon) states are very weakly screened compared to ionic (exciton) states; (3) Screening of the 1Bu- exciton is closer to the dispersion than solvation limit.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

The Abrikosov Flux Lattice in Planar Crystals of YBaCuO

Anisotropic London Theory is used to predict the Abriskosv flux lattice in planar crystals of YBaCuO. By taking into account the orientation of the flux lattice as a function of applied field it is shown that the vortex chain state is observed in Bitter pattern experiments.Comment: 17 pages, Late

A Variational Estimate of the Binding Energy of Charge-Transfer Excitons in the Cuprate Superconductors.

We present a variational estimate for the binding energy of a Frenkel exciton in the insulating cuprate superconductors. Starting from the three band Hubbard model we perform a canonical transformation to O($t^2$), where $t$ is the bare nearest neighbour copper-oxygen hopping integral. An effective Hamiltonian is then derived to describe the hopping of the exciton through the copper oxide plane. The critical parameter in the model is the nearest neighbour copper-oxygen coulomb repulsion, $V$. It is found that a critical value of $V$ is needed to observe bound Frenkel excitons, and that these excitons have the same symmetry as the parent copper orbital, $d_{x^2-y^2}$. We determine the critical value of $V$ using a variational approach, and attempt to fit the parameters of the model to known experimental results.Comment: Latex document. Figures on request

Can Quantum Lattice Fluctuations Destroy the Peierls Broken Symmetry Ground State?

The study of bond alternation in one-dimensional electronic systems has had a long history. Theoretical work in the 1930s predicted the absence of bond alternation in the limit of infinitely long conjugated polymers; a result later contradicted by experimental investigations. When this issue was re-examined in the 1950s it was shown in the adiabatic limit that bond alternation occurs for any value of electron-phonon coupling. The question of whether this conclusion remains valid for quantized nuclear degrees of freedom was first addressed in the 1980s. Since then a series of numerical calculations on models with gapped, dispersionless phonons have suggested that bond alternation is destroyed by quantum fluctuations below a critical value of electron-phonon coupling. In this work we study a more realistic model with gapless, dispersive phonons. By solving this model with the DMRG method we show that bond alternation remains robust for any value of electron-phonon coupling

Relaxation energies and excited state structures of poly(para-phenylene)

We investigate the relaxation energies and excited state geometries of the light emitting polymer, poly(para-phenylene). We solve the Pariser-Parr-Pople-Peierls model using the density matrix renormalization group method. We find that the lattice relaxation of the dipole-active $1^1B_{1u}^-$ state is quite different from that of the $1^3B_{1u}^+$ state and the dipole-inactive $2^1A_g^+$ state. In particular, the $1^1B_{1u}^-$ state is rather weakly coupled to the lattice and has a rather small relaxation energy ca. 0.1 eV. In contrast, the $1^3B_{1u}^+$ and $2^1A_g^+$ states are strongly coupled with relaxation energies of ca. 0.5 and ca. 1.0 eV, respectively. By analogy to linear polyenes, we argue that this difference can be understood by the different kind of solitons present in the $1^1B_{1u}^-$, $1^3B_{1u}^+$ and $2^1A_g^+$ states. The difference in relaxation energies of the $1^1B_{1u}^-$ and $1^3B_{1u}^+$ states accounts for approximately one-third of the exchange gap in light-emitting polymers.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review

Dynamical simulations of charged soliton transport in conjugated polymers with the inclusion of electron-electron interactions

We present numerical studies of the transport dynamics of a charged soliton in conjugated polymers under the influence of an external time-dependent electric field. All relevant electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions are nearly fully taken into account by simulating the monomer displacements with classical molecular dynamics (MD) and evolving the wavefunction for the $\pi$ electrons by virtue of the adaptive time-dependent density matrix renormalization group (TDDMRG) simultaneously and nonadiabatically. It is found that after a smooth turn-on of the external electric field the charged soliton is accelerated at first up to a stationary constant velocity as one entity consisting of both the charge and the lattice deformation. An ohmic region (6 mV/$\text{\AA}$ $\leq E_0\leq$ 12 mV/$\text{\AA}$) where the stationary velocity increases linearly with the electric field strength is observed. The relationship between electron-electron interactions and charged soliton transport is also investigated in detail. We find that the dependence of the stationary velocity of a charged soliton on the on-site Coulomb interactions $U$ and the nearest-neighbor interactions $V$ is due to the extent of delocalization of the charged soliton defect.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figure

Density matrix renormalization group study of conjugated polymers with transverse pi-conjugation

We report accurate numerical studies of excited state orderings in long hypothetical pi-conjugated oligomers in which the hydrogen atoms of trans-polyacetylene are replaced with conjugated sidegroups, within modified Hubbard models. There exists a range of the bare Coulomb repulsion for which the excited state ordering is conducive to photoluminescence in the substituted systems, even as this ordering is opposite in the unsubstituted polyenes of the same lengths. Our work provides motivation to study real pi-conjugated polymers with transverse conjugation and small optical gaps.Comment: 5 pages, 4 fig

Screening and the quantitative π-model description of the optical spectra and polarizations of phenyl based oligomers

The long standing problem of the inability of many semiempirical models to correctly predict the polarization of the higher dipole allowed optical transitions of phenyl based π-conjugated polymers and molecules is examined and related to the issue of internal and external screening of π-π electron Coulomb interactions within the molecules. Following a review of previous theoretical and experimental work, π electron only the Complete Neglect of Differential Overlap (CNDO) model is presented which, for the first time, is able to predict accurately the energies and symmetries of all the observed optical transitions of benzene, biphenyl and trans -stilbene, up to ~8-10 eV. In so doing, it is demonstrated that the problem with previous calculations was the noninclusion of screening from outside the p electron system itself. By fitting separately the spectra in hydrocarbon based condensed phases, in the gas phase and in solid rare gas matrices, and comparing the resulting model parameters, we show that, while the effects of screening from the environment are certainly noticeable, the most important spectral features - in particular the ordering of dipole allowed transitions - come from effective screening by the s electrons. We find that both of these effects can be adequately accounted for within a π electron only model by using a dielectric constant and appropriate parameter renormalization