Theoretical Study on Exciton Dynamics in Dendritic Systems: Exciton Recurrence and Migration

The optical functionalities such as exciton recurrence and migration for dendritic systems, e.g., dendrimers, are investigated using the quantum master equation (QME) approach based on the ab initio molecular orbital configuration interaction (MO-CI) method, which can treat both the coherent and incoherent exciton dynamics at the first principle level. Two types of phenylacetylene dendrimers, Cayley-tree dendrimer and nanostar dendrimer with anthracene core, are examined to elucidate the features of excion recurrence and migration motions in relation to their structural dependences. It is found that the nanostar dendrimer exhibits faster exciton migration from the periphery to the core than Cayley-tree dendrimer, which alternatively exhibits exciton recurrence motion among dendron parts in case of small relaxation parameters. Such strong structural dependence of exciton dynamics demonstrates the advantage of dendritic molecular systems for future applications in nano-optical and light-harvesting devices.