@article{KopfSaalfrank2004, author = {Kopf, A. and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {Electron transport through molecules treated by LCAO-MO Green's functions with absorbing boundaries}, issn = {0009-2614}, year = {2004}, abstract = {In this Letter, we present a method for calculating transport properties of molecular conductors using a time- independent scattering approach based on Green's functions with absorbing boundaries. The method, which has been used before for chemical reaction dynamics in a grid basis [Seideman, Miller, J. Chem. Phys. 96 (1992) 4412], is formulated here in an LCAO-MO form within simple Huckel theory and extended Huckel theory (EHT), respectively. Test calculations are for a quasi-one-dimensional atom chain. As a more realistic application, the organic molecules benzene- 1,4-dithiolate and biphenyl-4,4'-dithiolate between gold electrodes are studied. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved}, language = {en} } @article{Saalfrank2004, author = {Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {Theory of photon- and STM-induced bond cleavage at surfaces}, issn = {1359-0286}, year = {2004}, abstract = {In this contribution, recent advances in the theory of laser and, to a lesser extent, of scanning tunneling microscope (STM) induced cleavage of bonds between an adsorbate and a solid surface, will be reviewed. Special emphasis will be given to the quantum dynamics of electronically non-adiabatic reactions. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved}, language = {en} } @article{KrauseKlamrothSaalfrank2005, author = {Krause, Pascal and Klamroth, Tillmann and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {Time-dependent configuration-interaction calculations of laser-pulse-driven many-electron dynamics : Controlled dipole switching in lithium cyanide}, issn = {0021-9606}, year = {2005}, abstract = {We report simulations of laser-driven many-electron dynamics by means of the time-dependent configuration interaction singles (doubles) approach. The method accounts for the correlation of ground and excited states, is capable of describing explicitly time-dependent, nonlinear phenomena, and is systematically improvable. Lithium cyanide serves as a molecular test system in which the charge distribution and hence the dipole moment are shown to be switchable, in a controlled fashion, by (a series of) laser pulses which induce selective, state-to-state electronic transitions. One focus of our time-dependent calculations is the question of how fast the transition from the ionic ground state to a specific excited state that is embedded in a multitude of other states can be made, without creating an electronic wave packet. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics}, language = {en} } @article{SaalfrankKlamrothHuberetal.2005, author = {Saalfrank, Peter and Klamroth, Tillmann and Huber, C. and Krause, Pascal}, title = {Laser-driven electron dynamics at interfaces}, issn = {0021-2148}, year = {2005}, abstract = {In this paper we present time-dependent, quantum-dynamical simulations of photoinduced processes at solid surfaces involving nonadiabatic transitions of electrons to and from short-lived intermediate excited states. In particular, two-photon photoemission (2PPE) spectra of naked metal surfaces and free-standing metal films are considered. One major problem in both cases is the presence of electron-electron scattering, which is treated here in various ways. The first way is to adopt an open-system density matrix approach, in which a single electron is weakly coupled to a "bath" of other electrons. The second approach is based on a many-electron Schrodinger equation, which is solved with the help of a time-dependent configuration interactions singles (TD-CIS) method}, language = {en} } @article{NestKlamrothSaalfrank2005, author = {Nest, Mathias and Klamroth, Tillmann and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {The multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock method for quantum chemical calculations}, issn = {0021-9606}, year = {2005}, abstract = {We apply the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock method to electronic structure calculations and show that quantum chemical information can be obtained with this explicitly time-dependent approach. Different equations of motion are discussed, as well as the numerical cost. The two-electron integrals are calculated using a natural potential expansion, of which we describe the convergence behavior in detail}, language = {en} } @article{KlamrothKronerSaalfrank2005, author = {Klamroth, Tillmann and Kroner, Dominic and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {Laser-driven coupled electron-nuclear dynamics : Quantum mechanical simulation of molecular photodesorption from metal films}, issn = {1098-0121}, year = {2005}, abstract = {In this paper we report dynamical simulations of laser-driven, coupled nuclear-electron dynamics for a molecule- surface system. Specifically, the laser desorption of a small molecule (NO) from a metal slab (Pt) in the so-called DIET limit (Desorption Induced by Electronic Transitions), is studied. The excitation of the metal electrons by a laser pulse followed by the formation of a negative ion resonance, its subsequent decay, and the simultaneous desorption of the molecule are all treated within a single quantum mechanical model. This model is based on an earlier theory of Harris and others [S. M. Harris, S. Holloway, and G. R. Darling, J. Chem. Phys. 102, 8235 (1995)], according to which a nuclear degree of freedom is coupled to an electronic one, both propagated on a single non-Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface. The goals of the present contribution are (i) to make a conceptual connection of this model to the frequently adopted nonadiabatic "multi-state" models of photodesorption, (ii) to understand details of the desorption mechanism, (iii) to explicitly account for the laser pulse, and (iv) to study the photodesorption as a function of the thickness of the metal film, and the laser parameters. As an important methodological aspect we also present a highly efficient numerical scheme to propagate the wave packet in a problem-adapted diabatic basis}, language = {en} } @article{MartinazzoNestSaalfranketal.2006, author = {Martinazzo, Rocco and Nest, Mathias and Saalfrank, Peter and Tantardini, Gian Franco}, title = {A local coherent-state approximation to system-bath quantum dynamics}, series = {The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr}, volume = {125}, journal = {The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr}, number = {19}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0021-9606}, doi = {10.1063/1.2362821}, pages = {16}, year = {2006}, abstract = {A novel quantum method to deal with typical system-bath dynamical problems is introduced. Subsystem discrete variable representation and bath coherent-state sets are used to write down a multiconfigurational expansion of the wave function of the whole system. With the help of the Dirac-Frenkel variational principle, simple equations of motion-a kind of Schrodinger-Langevin equation for the subsystem coupled to (pseudo) classical equations for the bath-are derived. True dissipative dynamics at all times is obtained by coupling the bath to a secondary, classical Ohmic bath, which is modeled by adding a friction coefficient in the derived pseudoclassical bath equations. The resulting equations are then solved for a number of model problems, ranging from tunneling to vibrational relaxation dynamics. Comparison of the results with those of exact, multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree calculations in systems with up to 80 bath oscillators shows that the proposed method can be very accurate and might be of help in studying realistic problems with very large baths. To this end, its linear scaling behavior with respect to the number of bath degrees of freedom is shown in practice with model calculations using tens of thousands of bath oscillators.}, language = {en} } @article{AndrianovSaalfrank2006, author = {Andrianov, Ivan and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {Free vibrational relaxation of H adsorbed on a Si(100) surface investigated with the multi-configurational time-dependent Hartree method}, series = {Chemical physics letters}, volume = {433}, journal = {Chemical physics letters}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0009-2614}, doi = {10.1016/j.cplett.2006.11.067}, pages = {91 -- 96}, year = {2006}, abstract = {The results of a quantum-mechanical study of vibrational relaxation of hydrogen adsorbed on a Si(100) surface with the multi-configurational time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method are presented. A two-dimensional subsystem is coupled non-linearly to a bath of harmonic oscillators (phonons of the Si bulk), and the relaxation of subsystem vibrations proceeds primarily via a two-phonon process. Characteristic times of the system evolution agree well with our previous perturbation theory study. The vibrational population decay is non-exponential, exhibiting pronounced recurrences due to finite bath size. The dependence of the lifetimes of the vibrational levels on the bath size and on the coupling details is investigated.}, language = {en} } @article{FuechselKlamrothDokicetal.2006, author = {F{\"u}chsel, Gernot and Klamroth, Tillmann and Dokic, Jadranka and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {On the electronic structure of neutral and ionic azobenzenes and their possible role as surface mounted molecular switches}, series = {The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces \& biophysical chemistry}, volume = {110}, journal = {The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces \& biophysical chemistry}, number = {33}, publisher = {Soc.}, address = {Washington}, issn = {1520-6106}, doi = {10.1021/jp060969v}, pages = {16337 -- 16345}, year = {2006}, abstract = {We report quantum chemical calculations, mostly based on density functional theory, on azobenzene and substituted azobenzenes as neutral molecules or ions, in ground and excited states. Both the cis and trans configurations are computed as well as the activation energies to transform one isomer into the other and the possible reaction paths and reaction surfaces along the torsion and inversion modes. All calculations are done for the isolated species, but results are discussed in light of recent experiments aiming at the switching of surface mounted azobenzenes by scanning tunneling microscopes.}, language = {en} } @article{Saalfrank2006, author = {Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {Quantum dynamical approach to ultrafast molecular desorption from surfaces}, series = {Chemical reviews}, volume = {106}, journal = {Chemical reviews}, number = {10}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0009-2665}, doi = {10.1021/cr0501691}, pages = {4116 -- 4159}, year = {2006}, language = {en} }