Effect of dimerization on dynamics of spin-charge separation in Pariser-Parr-Pople model: A time-dependent density matrix renormalization group study

We investigate the effect of static electron-phonon coupling, on real-time dynamics of spin and charge transport in $\pi$-conjugated polyene chains. The polyene chain is modeled by the Pariser-Parr-Pople Hamiltonian with dimerized nearest-neighbor parameter $t_{0}(1+\delta)$ for short bonds and $t_{0}(1-\delta)$ for long bonds, and long-range electron-electron interactions. We follow the time evolution of the spin and charge using time-dependent density matrix renormalization group technique, when a hole is injected at one end of the chain in its ground state. We find that spin and charge dynamics followed through spin and charge velocities, depend both on chain length and extent of dimerization, $\delta$. Analysis of the results requires focusing on physical quantities such as average spin and charge polarizations, particularly in the large dimerization limit. In the dimerization range 0.0 $\le$ $\delta$ $\le$ 0.15, spin-charge dynamics is found to have a well defined behavior, with spin-charge separation (measured as the ratio of charge velocity to spin velocity) as well as, the total amount of charge and spin transported in a given time, along the chain, decreasing as dimerization increases. However, in the range 0.3 $\le$ $\delta$ $\le$ 0.5, it is observed that the dynamics of spin and charge transport becomes complicated. It is observed that for large $\delta$ values, spin-charge separation is suppressed and the injected hole fails to travel the entire length of the chain.Comment: Published in Phys. Rev. B; preprint format of published versio

Exact Wave Packet Dynamics of Singlet Fission in Unsubstituted and Substituted Polyene Chains within Long-Range Interacting Models

Singlet fission (SF) is a potential pathway for significant enhancement of efficiency in organic solar cells (OSC). In this paper, we study singlet fission in a pair of polyene molecules in two different stacking arrangements employing exact many-body wave packet dynamics. In the non-interacting model, the SF yield is absent. The individual molecules are treated within Hubbard and Pariser-Parr-Pople (PPP) models and the interaction between them involves transfer terms, intersite electron repulsions and site-charge--bond-charge repulsion terms. Initial wave packet is constructed from excited singlet state of one molecule and ground state of the other. Time development of this wave packet under the influence of intermolecular interactions is followed within the Schr\"odinger picture by an efficient predictor-corrector scheme. In unsubstituted Hubbard and PPP chains, $2{}^1A$ excited singlet state leads to significant SF yield while the $1{}^1B$ state gives negligible fission yield. On substitution by donor-acceptor groups of moderate strength, the lowest excited state will have sufficient $2{}^1A$ character and hence results in significant SF yield. Because of rapid internal conversion, the nature of the lowest excited singlet will determine the SF contribution to OSC efficiency. Furthermore, we find the fission yield depends considerably on the stacking arrangement of the polyene molecules.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 4 table

Bond-order wave phase, spin solitons and thermodynamics of a frustrated linear spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet

The linear spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet with exchanges $J_1$, $J_2$ between first and second neighbors has a bond-order wave (BOW) phase that starts at the fluid-dimer transition at $J_2/J_1 = 0.2411$ and is particularly simple at $J_2/J_1 = 1/2$. The BOW phase has a doubly degenerate singlet ground state, broken inversion symmetry and a finite energy gap $E_m$ to the lowest triplet state. The interval $0.4<J_2/J_1<1.0$ has large $E_m$ and small finite size corrections. Exact solutions are presented up to $N=28$ spins with either periodic or open boundary conditions and for thermodynamics up to $N=18$. The elementary excitations of the BOW phase with large $E_m$ are topological spin-1/2 solitons that separate BOWs with opposite phase in a regular array of spins. The molar spin susceptibility $\chi_M(T)$ is exponentially small for $T \ll E_m$ and increases nearly linearly with $T$ to a broad maximum. $J_1$, $J_2$ spin chains approximate the magnetic properties of the BOW phase of Hubbard-type models and provide a starting point for modeling alkali-TCNQ salts.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure

Experimental determination of the Avogadro constant

Since the time Cannizzaro expounded a system of atomic weight determination in the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860 [10], and firmly established Avogadro hypothesis, there have been dozens of experimental methods for determining the Avogadro number. Many of these methods seek to determine a fundamental physical constant such as charge of an electron or the Boltzmann constant whose value for one mole of particles is precisely known. Ingenious methods that have been devised for the measurement of these fundamental constants are discussed in this article