Excited-State Dynamics of Overlapped Optically-Allowed 1Bu+ and Optically-Forbidden 1Bu- or 3Ag- Vibronic Levels of Carotenoids: Possible Roles in the Light-Harvesting Function

The unique excited-state properties of the overlapped (diabatic) optically-allowed 1Bu+ and the optically-forbidden 1Bu- or 3Ag- vibronic levels close to conical intersection (‘the diabatic pair’) are summarized: Pump-probe spectroscopy after selective excitation with ~100 fs pulses of all-trans carotenoids (Cars) in nonpolar solvent identified a symmetry selection rule in the diabatic electronic mixing and diabatic internal conversion, i.e., ‘1Bu+-to-1Bu- is allowed but 1Bu+-to-3Ag- is forbidden’. On the other hand, pump-probe spectroscopy after coherent excitation with ~30 fs of all-trans Cars in THF generated stimulated emission with quantum beat, consisting of the long-lived coherent diabatic cross term and a pair of short-lived incoherent terms.