Splitting dynamics of nuclear wave packets in a Peierls insulator using femtosecond laser spectroscopy

Abstract

We investigated the wave-packet (WP) dynamics corresponding to the lattice rearrangement in halogen-bridged platinum complex with femtosecond luminescence spectroscopy. We revealed a motion of the splitting process of WP at the top of a potential barrier on the adiabatic potential-energy surface connecting the self-trapped exciton and the soliton-pair state. By changing the kinetic energy of the WP, we succeeded in controlling the propagation efficiency of WP beyond the barrier by a factor of 250%. The anomalous dwelling behavior and quantum interference of the WP were also observed. The obtained envelope of the WP clarified the dynamical process of the splitting and interfering time-dependent wave functions, providing a picture of lattice rearrangement in terms of quantum-mechanical waves.