Biomedical subjects

Lothar Mühlbacher

Publications and source records attributed to Lothar Mühlbacher.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Path-integral Monte Carlo simulations for electronic dynamics on molecular chains. II. Transport across impurities.

Electron transfer (ET) across molecular chains including an impurity is studied based on a recently improved real-time path-integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) approach [L. Mühlbacher, J. Ankerhold, and C. Escher, J. Chem. Phys. 121 12696 (2004)]. The reduced electronic dynamics is studied for various bridge lengths and defect site energies. By determining intersite hopping rates from PIMC simulations up to moderate times, the relaxation process in the extreme long-time limit is captured within a sequential transfer model. The total transfer rate is extracted and shown to be enhanced for certain defect site energies. Super-exchange turns out to be relevant for extreme gap energies only and then gives rise to different dynamical signatures for high- and low-lying defects. Further, it is revealed that the entire bridge compound approaches a steady state on a much shorter time scale than that related to the total transfer. This allows for a simplified description of ET along donor-bridge-acceptor systems in the long-time range.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Path-integral Monte Carlo simulations for electronic dynamics on molecular chains. I. Sequential hopping and super exchange.

An improved real-time quantum Monte Carlo procedure is presented and applied to describe the electronic transfer dynamics along molecular chains. The model consists of discrete electronic sites coupled to a thermal environment which is integrated out exactly within the path integral formulation. The approach is numerically exact and its results reduce to known analytical findings (Marcus theory, golden rule) in proper limits. Special attention is paid to the role of superexchange and sequential hopping at lower temperatures in symmetric donor-bridge-acceptor systems. In contrast to previous approximate studies, superexchange turns out to play a significant role only for extremely high-lying bridges where the transfer is basically frozen or for extremely low temperatures where for weaker dissipation a description in terms of rate constants is no longer feasible. For bridges with increasing length an algebraic decrease of the yield is found for short as well as for long bridges. The approach can be extended to electronic systems with more complicated topologies including impurities and in presence of external time-dependent forces.

Journal Article↗