Franck state

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. 

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 ... 

This example relates to the well known Franck-Condon principal of spectroscopy in which squares of overlaps between the initial electronic state s vibrational wavefunction and the final electronic state s vibrational wavefunctions allow one to estimate the probabilities ofpopulating various final-state vibrational levels. 

Here, I(co) is the Fourier transform of the above C(t) and AEq f is the adiabatic electronic energy difference (i.e., the energy difference between the v = 0 level in the final electronic state and the v = 0 level in the initial electronic state) for the electronic transition of interest. The above C(t) clearly contains Franck-Condon factors as well as time dependence exp(icOfvjvt + iAEi ft/h) that produces 5-function spikes at each electronic-vibrational transition frequency and rotational time dependence contained in the time correlation function quantity <5ir Eg ii,f(Re) Eg ii,f(Re,t)... 

Quite apart from the necessity for Franck-Condon intensities of vibronic transitions to be appreciable, it is essential for the initial state of a transition to be sufficiently highly populated for a transition to be observed. Under equilibrium conditions the population 1, of any v" level is related to that of the u" = 0 level by... 

Section 6.13.2 and illustrated in Figure 6.5. The possible inaccuracies of the method were made clear and it was stressed that these are reduced by obtaining term values near to the dissociation limit. Whether this can be done depends very much on the relative dispositions of the various potential curves in a particular molecule and whether electronic transitions between them are allowed. How many ground state vibrational term values can be obtained from an emission spectrum is determined by the Franck-Condon principle. If r c r" then progressions in emission are very short and few term values result but if r is very different from r", as in the A U — system of carbon monoxide discussed in Section 7.2.5.4, long progressions are observed in emission and a more accurate value of Dq can be obtained. 

The state may decay by radiative (r) or non-radiative (nr) processes, labelled 5 and 7, respectively, in Figure 9.18. Process 5 is the fluorescence, which forms the laser radiation and the figure shows it terminating in a vibrationally excited level of Sq. The fact that it does so is vital to the dye being usable as an active medium and is a consequence of the Franck-Condon principle (see Section 7.2.5.3). 

This specfmm is dominated by ftmdamenfals, combinations and overtones of fofally symmefric vibrations. The intensify disfribufions among fhese bands are determined by fhe Franck-Condon factors (vibrational overlap integrals) between the state of the molecule and the ground state, Dq, of the ion. (The ground state of the ion has one unpaired electron spin and is, therefore, a doublet state, D, and the lowest doublet state is labelled Dq.) The... 

Resonance Raman Spectroscopy. If the excitation wavelength is chosen to correspond to an absorption maximum of the species being studied, a 10 —10 enhancement of the Raman scatter of the chromophore is observed. This effect is called resonance enhancement or resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy. There are several mechanisms to explain this phenomenon, the most common of which is Franck-Condon enhancement. In this case, a band intensity is enhanced if some component of the vibrational motion is along one of the directions in which the molecule expands in the electronic excited state. The intensity is roughly proportional to the distortion of the molecule along this axis. RR spectroscopy has been an important biochemical tool, and it may have industrial uses in some areas of pigment chemistry. Two biological appHcations include the deterrnination of helix transitions of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) (18), and the elucidation of several peptide stmctures (19). A review of topics in this area has been pubHshed (20). 

Excited-State Relaxation. A further photophysical topic of intense interest is pathways for thermal relaxation of excited states in condensed phases. According to the Franck-Condon principle, photoexcitation occurs with no concurrent relaxation of atomic positions in space, either of the photoexcited chromophore or of the solvating medium. Subsequent to excitation, but typically on the picosecond time scale, atomic positions change to a new equihbrium position, sometimes termed the (28)- Relaxation of the solvating medium is often more dramatic than that of the chromophore... 

Solvatochromic shifts are rationalized with the aid of the Franck-Condon principle, which states that during the electronic transition the nuclei are essentially immobile because of their relatively great masses. The solvation shell about the solute molecule minimizes the total energy of the ground state by means of dipole-dipole, dipole-induced dipole, and dispersion forces. Upon transition to the excited state, the solute has a different electronic configuration, yet it is still surrounded by a solvation shell optimized for the ground state. There are two possibilities to consider ... 

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