Interchain coupling effects on photoinduced phase transitions between neutral and ionic phases in an extended Hubbard model with alternating potentials and an electron-lattice coupling

Dynamics of ionic-to-neutral and neutral-to-ionic phase transitions induced by intrachain charge-transfer photoexcitations are studied in a quasi-one-dimensional extended Hubbard model with alternating potentials and an electron-lattice coupling for mixed-stack charge-transfer complexes. For interchain couplings, we use electron-electron interactions previously estimated for TTF-CA (TTF=tetrathiafulvalene, CA=chloranil). Photoexcitation is introduced by a pulse of oscillating electric field. The time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation is used for the electronic part, and the classical approximation for the lattice part. In the ionic-to-neutral transition, the transferred charge density is a strongly nonlinear function of the photoexcitation density, which is characterized by the presence of a threshold. With substantial interchain couplings comparable to those in TTF-CA, the interchain correlation is strong during the transition. Neutral domains in nearby chains simultaneously grow even if their nucleation is delayed by reducing the amplitude of the electric field. With weaker interchain couplings, the growing processes are in phase only when the amplitude of the electric field is large. Thus, the experimentally observed, coherent motion of a macroscopic neutral-ionic domain boundary is allowed to emerge by such substantial interchain couplings. In the neutral-to-ionic transition, by contrast, the transferred charge density is almost a linear function of the photoexcitation density. Interchain electron-electron interactions make the function slightly nonlinear, but the uncooperative situation is almost unchanged and consistent with the experimental findings.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Photoinduced melting of charge order in a quarter-filled electron system coupled with different types of phonons

Photoinduced melting of charge order is calculated by using the exact many-electron wave function coupled with classically treated phonons in the one-dimensional quarter-filled Hubbard model with Peierls and Holstein types of electron-phonon couplings. The model parameters are taken from recent experiments on (EDO-TTF)_2PF_6 (EDO-TTF=ethylenedioxy-tetrathiafulvalene) with (0110) charge order, where transfer integrals are modulated by molecular displacements (bond-coupled phonons) and site energies by molecular deformations (charge-coupled phonons). The charge-transfer photoexcitation from (0110) to (0200) configurations and that from (0110) to (1010) configurations have different energies. The corresponding excited states have different shapes of adiabatic potentials as a function of these two phonon amplitudes. The adiabatic potentials are shown to be useful in understanding differences in the photoinduced charge dynamics and the efficiency of melting, which depend not only on the excitation energy but also on the relative phonon frequency of the bond- and charge-coupled phonons.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Dynamics of photoexcited states in one-dimensional dimerized Mott insulators

Dynamical properties of photoexcited states are theoretically studied in a one-dimensional Mott insulator dimerized by the spin-Peierls instability. Numerical calculations combined with a perturbative analysis have revealed that the lowest photoexcited state without nearest-neighbor interaction corresponds to an interdimer charge transfer excitation that belongs to dispersive excitations. This excited state destabilizes the dimerized phase, leading to a photoinduced inverse spin-Peierls transition. We discuss the purely electronic origin of midgap states that are observed in a latest photoexcitation experiment of an organic spin-Peierls compound, K-TCNQ (potassium-tetracyanoquinodimethane).Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in PR