Aggregation of N-Heteropolycyclic Aromatic Molecules: The Acridine Dimer and Trimer.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their nitrogen-substituted analogues are of great interest for various applications in organic electronics. The performance of such devices is determined not only by the properties of the single molecules, but also by the structure of their aggregates, which often form via self-aggregation. Gaining insight into such aggregation processes is a challenging task, but crucial for a fine-tuning of the materials properties. In this work, an efficient approach for the generation and characterisation of aggregates is described, based on matrix-isolation experiments and quantum-chemical calculations. This approach is exemplified for aggregation of acridine. The acridine dimer and trimer are thoroughly analysed on the basis of experimental and calculated UV and IR absorption spectra, which agree well with each other. Thereby a novel structure of the acridine dimer is found, which disagrees with a previously reported one. The calculations also show the changes from excitonic coupling towards orbital interactions between two molecules with decreasing distance to each other. In addition, a structure of the trimer is determined. Finally, an outlook is given on how even higher aggregates can be made accessible through experiment.

Isolated Dimers Versus Solid-State Dimers of N-Heteropolycycles: Matrix-Isolation Spectroscopy in Concert with Quantum Chemistry.

In this work, matrix-isolation spectroscopy and quantum-chemical calculations are used together to analyse the structure and properties of weakly bound dimers of the two isomers benzo[a]acridine and benzo[c]acridine. Our measured experimental electronic absorbance spectra agree with simulated spectra calculated for the equilibrium structures of the dimers in gas-phase, but in contrast, disagree with the simulated spectra calculated for the structures obtained by optimising the experimental solid-state structures. This highlights the sensitivity of the electronic excitations with respect to the dimer structures. The comparison between the solid-state and gas-phase dimers shows how far the intermolecular interactions could change the geometric and electronic structure in a disordered bulk material or at device interfaces, imposing consequences for exciton and charge mobility and other material properties.

Consistent third-order one-particle transition and excited-state properties within the algebraic-diagrammatic construction scheme for the polarization propagator.

The intermediate state representation (ISR) formalism allows for the straightforward calculation of excited state properties and state-to-state transition moments using the algebraic-diagrammatic construction (ADC) scheme for the polarization propagator. Here, the derivation and implementation of the ISR in third-order perturbation theory for the one-particle operator are presented, enabling, for the first time, the calculation of consistent third-order ADC [ADC(3)] properties. The accuracy of ADC(3) properties is evaluated with respect to high-level reference data and compared to the previously used ADC(2) and ADC(3/2) schemes. Oscillator strengths and excited state dipole moments are computed, and typical response properties are considered: dipole polarizabilities, first-order hyperpolarizabilities, and two-photon absorption strengths. The consistent third-order treatment of the ISR leads to an accuracy similar to that of the mixed-order ADC(3/2) method; the individual performance, however, depends on the property and molecule under investigation. ADC(3) produces slightly improved results in the case of oscillator strengths and two-photon absorption strengths, while excited state dipole moments, dipole polarizabilities, and first-order hyperpolarizabilities exhibit similar accuracy at ADC(3) and ADC(3/2) levels. Taking the significant increase of central processing unit time and memory requirements of the consistent ADC(3) approach into account, the mixed-order ADC(3/2) scheme offers a better compromise between accuracy and efficiency for the properties considered.

Perturbation theoretical approaches to strong light-matter coupling in ground and excited electronic states for the description of molecular polaritons.

Quantum chemical methods for the description of molecular polaritonic states in the strong coupling regime based on the Pauli-Fierz Hamiltonian are introduced. Based on a quantum electrodynamic Hartree-Fock (QED-HF) reference, a QED Møller-Plesset perturbation theory of second order for the electronic ground state and a second order quantum electrodynamic algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme for the polarization propagator [QED-ADC(2)] for excited electronic states have been derived, implemented, and tested for polaritons in hydrogen fluoride. Analogous approaches based on a standard non-polaritonic HF reference are also presented and thoroughly compared, both algebraically and numerically, to those based on the QED-HF reference. Furthermore, a promising route to approximate QED-ADC methods based on a unitary transformation of the algebraic expression into a restricted state space is outlined showing excellent agreement in second order with QED-ADC(2). All presented novel methods are compared to and tested against other existing ab initio approaches, mostly QED coupled cluster theory, including single and double excitations, and show qualitative agreement at a reduced computational effort.

Exploring the accuracy and usefulness of semi-empirically scaled ADC schemes by blending second and third order terms.

Different approaches to mixed-order algebraic-diagrammatic construction (ADC) schemes are investigated. The performance of two different strategies for scaling third-order contributions to the ADC secular matrix is evaluated. Both considered schemes employ a single tuning parameter and conserve general properties inherent to all ADC methods, such as hermiticity and size-consistency. The first approach, scaled-matrix ADC[(2) + x(3)], scales all contributions first occurring in ADC(3) equally and leads to an improvement of the accuracy of excitation energies compared to ADC(3) for x = 0.4-0.5. However, with respect to excited state dipole moments, this method provides lower accuracy than ADC(3). The second scaling approach, MP[(1) + x(2)] - ISR(3), scales the second order contributions of the ground-state wavefunction and derives a rigorous ADC scheme via the intermediate state representation formalism. Although the error in excitation energies is not improved, this method provides insight into the relevance of the individual terms of the ADC(3) matrix and indicates that the MP(2) wavefunction is, indeed, the optimal reference wavefunction for deriving a third-order single-reference ADC scheme.