Academic research

In the project “Ab initio ultrafast spectroscopy of lightharvesting complexes” we aim at understanding the microscopic processes occurring in light-harvesting complexes photoexcited by an ultrafast laser pulse. Adopting the real-time implementation of time-dependent density-functional theory we are able to excite the system with a semi-classical oscillating field of femtosecond duration and to interrogate it after a certain time delay with another monochromatic pulse or with the broadband field. In this way, we are able to get access to the earliest stage of the photoexcitation process and to understand its underlying physical mechanisms. The role of the coupled electron-nuclear dynamics and of the dielectric environment of the systems will be specifically addressed in this study.