Ground and Excited State Raman Spectroscopy of Conjugated Thiophenes Oligomers

This project is in collaboration with the Elles group. We are studying the electronic structure of an interesting class of prototype molecules: phenyl-thiophenes (PTs). PTs are model systems for more complicated thiophene polymers that have many interesting applications in materials science. We are interested in studying how absorption of light affects the excited state dynamics both from the experimental and theoretical points of view. We are therefore evaluating ground and excited state singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces, and simulating IR and Raman spectra on all surfaces, see Figure for diphenyl-thiophene. The information gained on these molecules will be then extended to more complicated compounds in solution and in solid phase.

M. S. Barclay, M. Caricato*, C. G. Elles*, Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Scattering from Triplet Electronic States: Experimental and Theoretical Study of Resonance Enhancements; J. Phys. Chem. A, 123, (2019) 7720. 

T. J. Quincy, M. S. Barclay, M. Caricato*, C. G. Elles*, Probing Dynamics in Higher-Lying Electronic States with Resonance-Enhanced Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy; J. Phys. Chem. A, 122, (2018) 8308.

M. S. Barclay, T. J. Quincy, D. B. Williams-Young, M. Caricato*, C. G. Elles*, Accurate Assignments of Excited-State Resonance Raman Spectra: A Benchmark Study Combining Experiment and Theory; J. Phys. Chem. A, 121, (2017) 7937