Dynamics of overtone excitation processes for a polyatomic model

Abstract

The excitation dynamics of a polyatomic system are presented in terms of both classical and quantum dynamics. These studies show that classical mechanics is qualitatively inaccurate in its description of the overtone excitation process. The quantum excitation is therefore an example of dynamic tunneling, which like most tunneling processes is slow. In a polyatomic molecule, intramolecular vibrational relaxation occurs much faster than does excitation, by several orders of magnitude. The disparity of time scales results in the excitation being very eigenstate specific in the small to medium molecule limit. We discuss the importance of these observations to photochemical experiments (possible preparation of long-lived localized excitations) and to theoretical interpretations of molecular wave functions (possible interference effects in the molecular state function).