Density matrix analysis and simulation of electronic excitations in conjugated and aggregated molecules.

Predicting the electronic structure of extended organic molecules constitutes an important fundamental task of modern chemistry. Studies of electronic excitations, charge-transfer, energy-transfer, and isomerization of conjugated systems form the basis for our understanding of the photophysics and photochemistry of complex molecules1-3 as well as organic nanostructures and supramolecular assemblies.4,5 Photosynthesis and other photochemical biological processes that constitute the basis of life on Earth involve assemblies of conjugated chromophores such as porphyrins, chlorophylls, and carotenoids.6-8 Apart from the fundamental interest, these studies are also closely connected to numerous important technological applications.9 Conjugated polymers are primary candidates for new organic optical materials with large nonlinear polarizabilities.10-19 Potential applications include electroluminescence, light emitting diodes, ultrafast switches, photodetectors, biosensors, and optical limiting materials.20-27 Optical spectroscopy which allows chemists and physicists to probe the dynamics of vibrations and electronic excitations of molecules and solids is a powerful tool for the study of molecular electronic structure. The theoretical techniques used for describing spectra of isolated small molecules are usually quite different from those of molecular crystals, and many intermediate size systems, such as clusters and polymers, are not readily described by the methods developed for either of these limiting cases.28