Guangjun Tian

Theoretical Modeling of Plasmon-Enhanced Raman Images of a Single Molecule with Subnanometer Resolution

Sai Duan, 2 Guangjun Tian, Yongfei Ji, Jiushu Shao, and Yi Luo 2, ∗ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 Anhui, P. R. China. Department of Theoretical Chemistry and Biology, School of Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. Key Laboratory of Theoretical Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, P. R. China. (Dated: June 19, 2014)Under local plasmonic excitation, Raman images of single molecules can now surprisingly reach subnanometer resolution. However, its physical origin has not been fully understood. Here we report a quantum-mechanical description of the interaction between a molecule and a highly confined plasmonic field. We show that when the spatial distribution of the plasmonic field is comparable to the size of the molecule, the optical transition matrix of the molecule becomes dependent on the position and distribution of the plasmonic field, resulting in a spatially resolved high-resolution Raman image of the molecule. The resonant Raman image reflects the electronic transition density of the molecule. In combination with first-principles calculations, the simulated Raman image of a porphyrin derivative adsorbed on a silver surface nicely reproduces its experimental counterpart. The present theory provides the basic framework for describing linear and nonlinear responses of molecules under highly confined plasmonic fields.

Density-matrix approach for the electroluminescence of molecules in a scanning tunneling microscope.

The electroluminescence (EL) of molecules confined inside a nanocavity in the scanning tunneling microscope possesses many intriguing but unexplained features. We present here a general theoretical approach based on the density-matrix formalism to describe the EL from molecules near a metal surface induced by both electron tunneling and localized surface plasmon excitations simultaneously. It reveals the underlying physical mechanism for the external bias dependent EL. The important role played by the localized surface plasmon on the EL is highlighted. Calculations for porphyrin derivatives have reproduced corresponding experimental spectra and nicely explained the observed unusual large variation of emission spectral profiles. This general theoretical approach can find many applications in the design of molecular electronic and photonic devices.

Vibrationally resolved high-resolution NEXAFS and XPS spectra of phenanthrene and coronene

We performed a combined experimental and theoretical study of the C1s Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine-Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy in the gas phase of two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (phenanthrene and coronene), typically formed in combustion reactions. In the NEXAFS of both molecules, a double-peak structure appears in the C1s → LUMO region, which differ by less than 1 eV in transition energies. The vibronic coupling is found to play an important role in such systems. It leads to weakening of the lower-energy peak and strengthening of the higher-energy one because the 0 - n (n > 0) vibrational progressions of the lower-energy peak appear in nearly the same region of the higher-energy peak. Vibrationally resolved theoretical spectra computed within the Frank-Condon (FC) approximation and linear coupling model agree well with the high-resolution experimental results. We find that FC-active normal modes all correspond to in-plane vibrations.

Role of non-Condon vibronic coupling and conformation change on two-photon absorption spectra of green fluorescent protein

Two-photon absorption spectra of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) often show a blue-shift band compared to their conventional one-photon absorption spectra, which is an intriguing feature that has not been well understood. We present here a systematic study on one- and two-photon spectra of GFP chromophore by means of the density functional response theory and complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) methods. It shows that the popular density functional fails to provide correct vibrational progression for the spectra. The non-Condon vibronic coupling, through the localised intrinsic vibrational modes of the chromophore, is responsible for the blue-shift in the TPA spectra. The cis to trans isomerisation can be identified in high-resolution TPA spectra. Our calculations demonstrate that the high level ab initio multiconfigurational CASSCF method, rather than the conventional density functional theory is required for investigating the essential excited-state properties of the GFP chromophore.

Visualization of Vibrational Modes in Real Space by Tip‐Enhanced Non‐Resonant Raman Spectroscopy

We present a general theory to model the spatially resolved non-resonant Raman images of molecules. It is predicted that the vibrational motions of different Raman modes can be fully visualized in real space by tip-enhanced non-resonant Raman scattering. As an example, the non-resonant Raman images of water clusters were simulated by combining the new theory and first-principles calculations. Each individual normal mode gives rise its own distinct Raman image, which resembles the expected vibrational motions of the atoms very well. The characteristics of intermolecular vibrations in supermolecules could also be identified. The effects of the spatial distribution of the plasmon as well as nonlinear scattering processes were also addressed. Our study not only suggests a feasible approach to spatially visualize vibrational modes, but also provides new insights in the field of nonlinear plasmonic spectroscopy.

First-Principles Simulations of One- and Two-Photon Absorption Band Shapes of the Bis(BF2) Core Complex

Motivated by the outstanding properties of bis(BF2) core complexes as fluorophore probes, we present a systematic computational study of their vibrationally resolved one- and two-photon absorption spectra in vacuum and in solution. Electronic and vibrational structure calculations were performed using the coupled cluster CC2 method and the Kohn-Sham formulation of density functional theory (DFT). A nonempirical estimation of the inhomogeneous broadening, accomplished using the polarizable embedding (PE) approaches combined with time-dependent DFT and CC2 methods, is used as a key ingredient of the computational protocol employed for simulations of the spectral features in solution. The inhomogeneous broadening is also determined based on the Marcus theory employing linear response and state-specific polarizable continuum model (PCM) methods. It is found that the polarizable embedding CC2 and the state-specific PCM are the most successful approaches for description of environmental broadening. For the 1(1)A(g) → 1(1)B(u) transition, the non-Condon effects can be safely neglected and a fair agreement between the simulated and experimental band shapes is found. In contrast, the shape of the vibrationally resolved band corresponding to the two-photon allowed 1(1)A(g) → 2(1)A(g) transition is largely dominated by non-Condon effects. A generalized few-level model was also employed to analyze the mechanism of the electronic two-photon 1(1)A(g) → 2(1)A(g) excitation. It was found that the most important optical channel involves the 1(1)B(u) excited state. Ramifications of the findings for general band shape modeling are briefly discussed.

Fluorescence and phosphorescence of single C60 molecules as stimulated by a scanning tunneling microscope.

The thesis is devoted to theoretical investigations of electron-vibration coupling and its effects on optical and electronic properties of single molecules, especially for molecules confined between metallic electrodes.A density-matrix approach has been developed to describe the photon emission of single molecules confined in the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). With this new method electronic excitations induced by both the tunneling electron and the localized surface plasmon (LSP) can be treated on an equal footing. Model calculations for porphyrin derivatives have successfully reproduced and explained the experimentally observed unusual variation of the photon emission spectra. The method has also been extended to study the STM induced fluorescence and phosphorescence of C60 molecules in combination with the first principles calculations. In particularly, the non-Condon vibronic couplings have been exclusively included in the calculations. The experimental spectra have been nicely reproduced by our calculations, which also enable us to identify the unique spectral fingerprint and origin of the measured spectra. The observed rich spectral features have been finally correctly assigned.The electron transport properties of molecular junctions with bipyridine isomers have been studied in the sequential tunneling (SET) regime by assuming that the molecules are weakly coupled to metallic electrodes. It is shown that the strong electron-vibration coupling in the 2, 2’-bipyridine molecule and the 4,4’-bipyridine molecule can lead to observable Franck-Condon blockade. Taking advantage of such novel effect, a gate-controlled conductance switch with ideal on-off ratio has been proposed for a molecular junction with the 4, 4’-bipyridine molecule.The effect of the electron-vibration coupling on one-photon and two-photon absorption spectra of green fluorescent protein (GFP) has been systematically examined. The hydroxybenzylidene-2, 3-dimethylimidazolinone molecule in the deprotonated anion state (HBDI−) is used to model the fluorescence chromophore of the GFP. Both Condon and non-Condon vibronic couplings have been considered in the calculations. The calculated spectra are in good agreement with the available experimental spectra. It confirms the notion that the observed blue-shift of the two-photon absorption spectrum with respect to its one-photon absorption counterpart is caused by the non-Condon vibronic coupling.All the calculations are carried out with our own software package, DynaVib. It is capable of modeling a variety of vibrational-resolved spectroscopies, such as absorption, emission, and resonant Raman scattering (RRS) spectra. In our package, the Duschinsky rotation and non-Condon effect have been fully taken into account. Both time-independent and time-dependent approaches have been implemented, allowing to simulate the spectra of very large molecules.

Significant Contributions of the Albrecht's A Term to Nonresonant Raman Scattering Processes.

The Raman intensity can be well described by the famous Albrechts Raman theory that consists of A and B terms. It is well-known that the contribution from Albrechts A term can be neglected without any loss of accuracy for far-off resonant Raman scattering processes. However, as demonstrated in this study, we have found that this widely accepted long-standing assumption fails drastically for totally symmetric vibration modes of molecules in general off-resonant Raman scattering. Perturbed first-principles calculations for water molecule show that strong constructive interference between the A and B terms occurs for the Raman intensity of the symmetric O-H stretching mode, which can account for ∼40% of the total intensity. Meanwhile, a minor destructive interference is found for the angle bending mode. The state-to-state mapping between Albrechts theory and perturbation theory allows us to verify the accuracy of the widely employed perturbation method for the dynamic/resonant Raman intensities. The model calculations rationalized from water molecule with the bending mode show that the perturbation method is a good approximation only when the absolute energy difference between the first excited state and the incident light is more than five times greater than the vibrational energy in the ground state.

Intrinsic Property of Flavin Mononucleotide Controls its Optical Spectra in Three Redox States

Intrinsic Property of Flavin Mononucleotide Controls its Optical Spectra in Three Redox States

Optical Excitation in Donor–Pt–Acceptor Complexes: Role of the Structure

The optical properties of the Pt complexes in the form of donor-metal-acceptor (D-M-A) were studied at the first-principles level. Calculated results show that for the frontier molecular orbitals (MOs) of a D-M-A structure the energies of unoccupied frontier MO can be mainly determined by the interaction between M and A, whereas the M-A and M-D interactions both determine the energies of occupied frontier MO. By developing a straightforward transition dipole decomposition method, we found that not only the local excitations in D but also those in A can significantly contribute to the charge-transfer (CT) excitation. Furthermore, the calculations also demonstrate that by tuning the dihedral angle between D and A the transition probability can be precisely controlled so as to broaden the spectrum region of photoabsorption. For the D-M-A molecule with a delocalized π system in A, the CT excitation barely affects the electronic structures of metal, suggesting that the oxidation state of the metal can be kept during the excitation. These understandings for the optical properties of the D-M-A molecule would be useful for the design of dye-sensitized solar cells, photocatalysis, and luminescence systems.