Franck

Franck-Condon principle According to this principle the time required for an electronic transition in a molecule is very much less than the period of vibration of the constituent nuclei of the molecule. Consequently, it may be assumed that during the electronic transition the nuclei do not change their positions or momenta. This principle is of great importance in discussing the energy changes and spectra of molecules. 

An alternative perspective is as follows. A 5-frmction pulse in time has an infinitely broad frequency range. Thus, the pulse promotes transitions to all the excited-state vibrational eigenstates having good overlap (Franck-Condon factors) with the initial vibrational state. The pulse, by virtue of its coherence, in fact prepares a coherent superposition of all these excited-state vibrational eigenstates. From the earlier sections, we know that each of these eigenstates evolves with a different time-dependent phase factor, leading to coherent spatial translation of the wavepacket. 

Figure Al.6.11. Idealized UV absorption spectrum of CO2. Note the regular progression of intemiediate resolution vibrational progression. In the frequency regime this structure is interpreted as a Franck-Condon...

The coefficients of the 5-fiinction in the sum are called Franck-Condon factors, and reflect the overlap of the initial state with the excited-state i at energy (see figure Al.6.13). Fonnally, equation (A1.6,88i... 

Figure Al.6.13. (a) Potential energy curves for two electronic states. The vibrational wavefunctions of the excited electronic state and for the lowest level of the ground electronic state are shown superimposed, (b) Stick spectrum representing the Franck-Condon factors (the square of overlap integral) between the vibrational wavefiinction of the ground electronic state and the vibrational wavefiinctions of the excited electronic state (adapted from [3]).

Equation (A 1.6.94) is called the KHD expression for the polarizability, a. Inspection of the denominators indicates that the first temi is the resonant temi and the second temi is tire non-resonant temi. Note the product of Franck-Condon factors in the numerator one corresponding to the amplitude for excitation and the other to the amplitude for emission. The KHD fonnula is sometimes called the siim-over-states fonnula, since fonnally it requires a sum over all intennediate states j, each intennediate state participating according to how far it is from resonance and the size of the matrix elements that coimect it to the states i. and The KHD fonnula is fiilly equivalent to the time domain fonnula, equation (Al.6.92). and can be derived from the latter in a straightforward way. However, the time domain fonnula can be much more convenient, particularly as one detunes from resonance, since one can exploit the fact that the effective dynamic becomes shorter and shorter as the detuning is increased. 

The observation of a bend progression is particularly significant. In photoelectron spectroscopy, just as in electronic absorption or emission spectroscopy, the extent of vibrational progressions is governed by Franck-Condon factors between the initial and final states, i.e. the transition between the anion vibrational level u" and neutral level u is given by... 

At this stage we may distinguish between excitation involving different electronic states and excitation occurring within the same electronic (ground) state. Wlien the spectroscopic states are located in different electronic states, say the ground (g) and excited (e) states, one frequently assumes the Franck-Condon approximation to be applicable ... 

Section BT1.2 provides a brief summary of experimental methods and instmmentation, including definitions of some of the standard measured spectroscopic quantities. Section BT1.3 reviews some of the theory of spectroscopic transitions, especially the relationships between transition moments calculated from wavefiinctions and integrated absorption intensities or radiative rate constants. Because units can be so confusing, numerical factors with their units are included in some of the equations to make them easier to use. Vibrational effects, die Franck-Condon principle and selection mles are also discussed briefly. In the final section, BT1.4. a few applications are mentioned to particular aspects of electronic spectroscopy. 

The last factor, the square of the overlap integral between the initial and final vibrational wavefunctions, is called the Franck-Condon factor for this transition. 

The Franck-Condon principle says that the intensities of die various vibrational bands of an electronic transition are proportional to these Franck-Condon factors. (Of course, the frequency factor must be included for accurate treatments.) The idea was first derived qualitatively by Franck through the picture that the rearrangement of the light electrons in die electronic transition would occur quickly relative to the period of motion of the heavy nuclei, so die position and iiioiiientiim of the nuclei would not change much during the transition [9]. The quaiitum mechanical picture was given shortly afterwards by Condon, more or less as outlined above [10]. 

There are cases where the variation of the electtonic ttansition moment with nuclear configuration caimot be neglected. Then it is necessary to work with equation (B 1.1.6) keeping the dependence of on Q and integrating it over the vibrational wavefiinctions. In most such cases it is adequate to use only the tenns up to first-order in equation (B 1.1.7). This results in modified Franck-Condon factors for the vibrational intensities [12]. 

If we can use only the zero-order tenn in equation (B 1.1.7) we can remove the transition moment from the integral and recover an equation hrvolving a Franck-Condon factor ... 

The synnnetry selection rules discussed above tell us whether a particular vibronic transition is allowed or forbidden, but they give no mfonnation about the intensity of allowed bands. That is detennined by equation (Bl.1.9) for absorption or (Bl.1.13) for emission. That usually means by the Franck-Condon principle if only the zero-order tenn in equation (B 1.1.7) is needed. So we take note of some general principles for Franck-Condon factors (FCFs). 

Franck J 1925 Elementary processes of photochemical reactions Trans. Faraday Soc. 21 536... 

Condon E U 1947 The Franck-Condon principle and related topics Am. J. Phys. 15 365-79... 

Duschinsky F 1937 On the interpretation of electronic spectra of polyatomic molecules. I. Concerning the Franck-Condon Principle Acta Physicochimica URSS 7 551... 

Hizhnyakov V and Tehver I 1988 Transform method in resonance Raman scattering with quadratic Franck-Condon and Herzberg-Teller interactions J. Raman Spectrosc. 19 383-8... 

Franck J and Rabinowitsch E 1934 Some remarks about free radicals and the photochemistry of solutions Trans. Faraday Soc. 30 120-31... 

Walton A R and Manolopoulos D E 1996 A new semiclassical initial value method for Franck-Condon spectra Mol. Phys. 87 961... 

The requirement of a very sharjD and strong electronic origin absorjDtion line limits the technique to strongly absorbing and fluorescing, relatively rigid cliromophores and matrices having little Franck-Condon activity in low-frequency... 

The Franck-Condon principle reflected in tire connection between optical and tliennal ET also relates to tire participation of high-frequency vibrational degrees of freedom. Charge transfer and resonance Raman intensity bandshape analysis has been used to detennine effective vibrational and solvation parameters [42,43]. 

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