TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Eric Wolfgang A1 - Anders, Janet A1 - Saalfrank, Peter T1 - Cavity-altered thermal isomerization rates and dynamical resonant localization in vibro-polaritonic chemistry JF - The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr N2 - It has been experimentally demonstrated that reaction rates for molecules embedded in microfluidic optical cavities are altered when compared to rates observed under "ordinary" reaction conditions. However, precise mechanisms of how strong coupling of an optical cavity mode to molecular vibrations affects the reactivity and how resonance behavior emerges are still under dispute. In the present work, we approach these mechanistic issues from the perspective of a thermal model reaction, the inversion of ammonia along the umbrella mode, in the presence of a single-cavity mode of varying frequency and coupling strength. A topological analysis of the related cavity Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface in combination with quantum mechanical and transition state theory rate calculations reveals two quantum effects, leading to decelerated reaction rates in qualitative agreement with experiments: the stiffening of quantized modes perpendicular to the reaction path at the transition state, which reduces the number of thermally accessible reaction channels, and the broadening of the barrier region, which attenuates tunneling. We find these two effects to be very robust in a fluctuating environment, causing statistical variations of potential parameters, such as the barrier height. Furthermore, by solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in the vibrational strong coupling regime, we identify a resonance behavior, in qualitative agreement with experimental and earlier theoretical work. The latter manifests as reduced reaction probability when the cavity frequency omega(c) is tuned resonant to a molecular reactant frequency. We find this effect to be based on the dynamical localization of the vibro-polaritonic wavepacket in the reactant well. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0076434 SN - 0021-9606 SN - 1089-7690 VL - 156 IS - 15 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Eric Wolfgang A1 - Werther, Michael A1 - Bouakline, Foudhil A1 - Grossmann, Frank A1 - Saalfrank, Peter T1 - Non-Markovian vibrational relaxation dynamics at surfaces JF - The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr N2 - Vibrational dynamics of adsorbates near surfaces plays both an important role for applied surface science and as a model lab for studying fundamental problems of open quantum systems. We employ a previously developed model for the relaxation of a D-Si-Si bending mode at a D:Si(100)-(2 x 1) surface, induced by a "bath " of more than 2000 phonon modes [Lorenz and P. Saalfrank, Chem. Phys. 482, 69 (2017)], to extend previous work along various directions. First, we use a Hierarchical Effective Mode (HEM) model [Fischer et al., J. Chem. Phys. 153, 064704 (2020)] to study relaxation of higher excited vibrational states than hitherto done by solving a high-dimensional system-bath time-dependent Schrodinger equation (TDSE). In the HEM approach, (many) real bath modes are replaced by (much less) effective bath modes. Accordingly, we are able to examine scaling laws for vibrational relaxation lifetimes for a realistic surface science problem. Second, we compare the performance of the multilayer multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) approach with that of the recently developed coherent-state-based multi-Davydov-D2 Ansatz [Zhou et al., J. Chem. Phys. 143, 014113 (2015)]. Both approaches work well, with some computational advantages for the latter in the presented context. Third, we apply open-system density matrix theory in comparison with basically "exact " solutions of the multi-mode TDSEs. Specifically, we use an open-system Liouville-von Neumann (LvN) equation treating vibration-phonon coupling as Markovian dissipation in Lindblad form to quantify effects beyond the Born-Markov approximation. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing. KW - phonons KW - Vibrational states KW - Chemical dynamics KW - Adsorption KW - Surface science KW - Open quantum systems KW - Density-matrix KW - Coherent states KW - Markov processes Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0092836 SN - 0021-9606 SN - 1089-7690 SN - 1520-9032 VL - 156 IS - 21 PB - AIP Publishing CY - Melville ER - TY - THES A1 - Fischer, Eric Wolfgang T1 - Quantum vibrational dynamics in complex environments: from vibrational strong coupling in molecular cavity QED to phonon-induced adsorbate relaxation N2 - Molecules are often naturally embedded in a complex environment. As a consequence, characteristic properties of a molecular subsystem can be substantially altered or new properties emerge due to interactions between molecular and environmental degrees of freedom. The present thesis is concerned with the numerical study of quantum dynamical and stationary properties of molecular vibrational systems embedded in selected complex environments. In the first part, we discuss "strong-coupling" model scenarios for molecular vibrations interacting with few quantized electromagnetic field modes of an optical Fabry-Pérot cavity. We thoroughly elaborate on properties of emerging "vibrational polariton" light-matter hybrid states and examine the relevance of the dipole self-energy. Further, we identify cavity-induced quantum effects and an emergent dynamical resonance in a cavity-altered thermal isomerization model, which lead to significant suppression of thermal reaction rates. Moreover, for a single rovibrating diatomic molecule in an optical cavity, we observe non-adiabatic signatures in dynamics due to "vibro-polaritonic conical intersections" and discuss spectroscopically accessible "rovibro-polaritonic" light-matter hybrid states. In the second part, we study a weakly coupled but numerically challenging quantum mechanical adsorbate-surface model system comprising a few thousand surface modes. We introduce an efficient construction scheme for a "hierarchical effective mode" approach to reduce the number of surface modes in a controlled manner. In combination with the multilayer multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) method, we examine the vibrational adsorbate relaxation dynamics from different excited adsorbate states by solving the full non-Markovian system-bath dynamics for the characteristic relaxation time scale. We examine half-lifetime scaling laws from vibrational populations and identify prominent non-Markovian signatures as deviations from Markovian reduced system density matrix theory in vibrational coherences, system-bath entanglement and energy transfer dynamics. In the final part of this thesis, we approach the dynamics and spectroscopy of vibronic model systems at finite temperature by formulating the ML-MCTDH method in the non-stochastic framework of thermofield dynamics. We apply our method to thermally-altered ultrafast internal conversion in the well-known vibronic coupling model of pyrazine. Numerically beneficial representations of multilayer wave functions ("ML-trees") are identified for different temperature regimes, which allow us to access thermal effects on both electronic and vibrational dynamics as well as spectroscopic properties for several pyrazine models. N2 - Moleküle sind für gewöhnlich in komplexe Umgebungen eingebettet. In Folge werden charakteristische Eigenschaften des molekularen Subsystems durch Wechselwirkung mit Umgebungsfreitheitsgraden potentiell deutlich verändert. Die vorliegende Dissertation behandelt die numerische Untersuchung von quantendynamischen und stationären Eigenschaften molekularer Schwingungen unter dem Einfluss ausgewählter komplexer Umgebungen. Im ersten Teil werden stark gekoppelte Modelsysteme betrachtet, die durch Wechselwirkung von molekulare Schwingungen mit wenigen quantisierten, elektromagnetischen Feldmoden einer Fabry-Pérot Kavität realisiert werden. Die Eigenschaften von Schwingungspolaritonen und die Relevanz der Dipolselbstenergie werden im Detail untersucht. Weiterhin werden quantenmechanische Effekte sowie ein dynamisches Resonanzphänomen in einem Modelsystem für thermische Isomerisierung unter dem Einfluss einer Kavität identifiziert, die zu signifikant reduzierten thermischen Reaktionsraten führen. Für ein frei rotierendes, schwingendes CO Molekül in einer Kavität finden sich nicht-adiabatische Signaturen in Form von schwingungspolaritonischen konischen Durchschneidungen sowie spektroskopisch identifizierbaren rovibratorischen Licht-Materie-Hybridzustände. Im zweiten Teil wird ein schwach gekoppeltes, numerisch anspruchsvolles Adsorbat-Oberflächen-Model mit einigen tausend Oberflächenmoden diskutiert. Es wird ein numerisch effizientes Verfahren zur Konstruktion einer Hierarchie effektiver Moden vorgestellt, wodurch die Anzahl an Oberflächenmoden kontrolliert reduziert wird. In Kombination mit der "multilayer multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree" (ML-MCTDH) Methode, wird der Relaxationsprozess der Adsorbatmode für verschiedene Anfangszustände durch Lösung der nicht-Markovschen System-Bad Dynamik auf der charakteristische Relaxationszeitskala untersucht. Skalierungsgesetze von Halbwertszeiten werden aus Schwingungspopulationen erhalten und prominente nicht-markovsche Signaturen in Schwingungskohärenzen, in System-Bad-Verschränkung und in der Energietransferdynamik werden durch Vergleich mit markovscher reduzierter Dichtematrixtheorie identifiziert. Im letzten Teil wird vibronische Dynamik bei endlichen Temperaturen untersucht und die ML-MCTDH Methode im Rahmen der nicht-stochastischen "Thermofield Theory" formuliert. Der thermisch beeinflusste, ultraschnelle interne Konversionsprozess in Pyrazin wird betrachtet. Numerisch effiziente Darstellungen der ML-MCTDH Wellenfunktionen für verschiedene Temperaturen werden vorgestellt und thermische Effekte auf Dynamik und Spektroskopie werden diskutiert. KW - theoretical chemistry KW - theoretische Chemie KW - quantum dynamics KW - Quantendynamik Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-567214 ER -