Photoisomerization process, nonadiabatic

Seidner L, Stock G and Domcke W 1995 Nonperturbative approach to femtosecond spectroscopy - general theory and application to multidimensional nonadiabatic photoisomerization processes J. Chem. Phys. 103 4002... 

Ohmine, I., Mechanisms of nonadiabatic transitions in photoisomerization processes of conjugated molecules role of hydrogen migrations,/. Chem. Phys., 83, 2348,1985. 

Nonadiabatic transitions definitely play crucial roles for molecules to manifest various functions. The theory of nonadiabatic transition is very helpful not only to comprehend the mechanisms, but also to design new molecular functions and enhance their efficiencies. The photochromism that is expected to be applicable to molecular switches and memories is a good example [130]. Photoisomerization of retinal is well known to be a basic mechanism of vision. In these processes, the NT type of nonadiabatic transitions play essential roles. There must be many other similar examples. Utilization of the complete reflection phenomenon can also be another candidate, as discussed in Section V.C. In this section, the following two examples are cosidered (1) photochromism due to photoisomerization between cyclohexadiene (CHD) and hexatriene (HT) as an example of photoswitching molecular functions, and (2) hydrogen transmission through a five-membered carbon ring. 

The goal of this review is to critically compare — from both a concep-tional and a practical point of view — various MQC strategies to describe non-Born-Oppenheimer dynamics. Owing to personal preferences, we will focus on the modeling of ultrafast bound-state processes following photoexcitation such as internal-conversion and nonadiabatic photoisomerization. To this end, Sec. 2 introduces three model problems Model I represents a three-mode description of the Si — S2 conical intersection in pyrazine. Model II accounts for the ultrafast C B X internal-conversion process in the benzene cation, and Model III represents a three-mode description of ultrafast photoisomerization triggered by a conical intersection. Allowing for exact quantum-mechanical reference calculations, all models have been used as benchmark problems to study approximate descriptions. 

Let us loosely define processes requiring two or more potential energy surfaces as electronically nonadiabatic processes. More specific well-known examples of electronically nonadiabatic processes include the cis-trans photoisomerization induced upon absorption of a photon by the rhodopsin molecule... 

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