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We present a coupled wave semiclassical theory to describe plasmonic enhancement effects in surface-enhanced femtosecond stimulated Raman scattering (SE-FSRS). A key result is that the plasmon enhanced fields which drive the vibrational equation of motion for each normal mode results in dispersive lineshapes in the SE-FSRS spectrum. This result, which reproduces experimental lineshapes, demonstrates that plasmon-enhanced stimulated Raman methods provide unique sensitivity to a plasmonic response. Our derived SE-FSRS theory shows a plasmonic enhancement of |gpu|²Im { χR(ω)g² st/Im { χR(ω)}, where |gpu|² is the absolute square of the plasmonic enhancement from the Raman pump, χR(ω) is the Raman susceptibility, and gst is the plasmonic enhancement of the Stokes field in SE-FSRS. We conclude with a discussion on potential future experimental and theoretical directions for the field of plasmonically enhanced coherent Raman scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A p-benzenedithiolate (BDT) molecule covalently bonded between two gold electrodes has become one of the model systems utilized for investigating molecular transport junctions. The plethora of papers published on the BDT system has led to varying conclusions with respect to both the mechanism and the magnitude of transport. Conductance variations have been attributed to difficulty in calculating charge transfer to the molecule, inability to locate the Fermi energy accurately, geometric dispersion, and stochastic switching. Here we compare results obtained using two transport codes, TRANSIESTA-C and HÜCKEL-IV, to show that upon Au–S bond lengthening, the calculated low bias conductance initially increases by up to a factor of 30. This increase in highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) mediated conductance is attributed to charging of the terminal sulfur atom and a corresponding decrease in the energy gap between the Fermi level and the HOMO. Addition of a single Au atom to each terminal of the extended BDT molecule is shown to add four molecular states near the Fermi energy, which may explain the varying results reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a discrete dipole approximation (DDA) method to determine extinction and Raman intensities for small metal particles of arbitrary shape. The Raman intensity calculation involves evaluation of surface electromagnetic fields, and thus is relevant to surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) intensities. We demonstrate convergence of the method by considering light absorption and scattering from an isolated spheroid, from an isolated tetrahedron, from two coupled spheroids, and from a spheroid on a flat surface. We also examine comparisons with traditional T-matrix methods. Extensions and simplifications of the method in studies of clusters and arrays of particles are presented. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singlet fission (SF) converts a singlet exciton into two triplet excitons in two or more electronically coupled organic chromophores, which may then be used to increase solar cell efficiency. Many known SF chromophores are unsuitable for device applications due to chemical instability or low triplet state energies. The results described here show that efficient SF occurs in derivatives of 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene (BPEA), which is a highly robust and tunable chromophore. Fluoro and methoxy substituents at the 4- and 4′-positions of the BPEA phenyl groups control the intermolecular packing in the crystal structure, which alters the interchromophore electronic coupling, while also changing the SF energetics. The lowest excited singlet state (S1) energy of 4,4′-difluoro-BPEA is higher than that of BPEA so that the increased thermodynamic favorability of SF results in a (16 ± 2 ps)−1 SF rate and a 180% ± 16% triplet yield, which is about an order of magnitude faster than BPEA with a comparable triplet yield. By contrast, 4-fluoro-4′-methoxy-BPEA and 4,4′-dimethoxy-BPEA have slower SF rates, (90 ± 20 ps)−1 and (120 ± 10 ps)−1, and lower triplet yields, (110 ± 4)% and (168 ± 7)%, respectively, than 4,4′-difluoro-BPEA. These differences are attributed to changes in the crystal structure controlling interchromophore electronic coupling as well as SF energetics in these polycrystalline solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory and experiment examining electron transfer through molecules bound to electrodes are increasingly focused on quantities that are conceptually far removed from current chemical understanding. This presents challenges both for the design of interesting molecules for these devices and for the interpretation of experimental data by traditional chemical mechanisms. Here, the concept of electronic coupling from theories of intramolecular electron transfer is extended and applied in the scattering theory (Landauer) formalism. This yields a simple sum over independent channels, that is then used to interpret and explain the unusual features of junction transport through cross-conjugated molecules and the differences among benzene rings substituted at the ortho, meta, or para positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present theoretical and experimental studies of the infrared (IR) spectroscopy, normal Raman spectroscopy (NRS), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and surface-enhanced hyper-Raman (SEHRS) spectroscopy of trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (BPE). This centrosymmetric molecule is expected to have no common Raman and hyper-Raman lines provided that it is not strongly perturbed by adsorption on the surface. The measured SERS spectrum, obtained under electrochemical conditions on Ag film over nanosphere (AgFON) electrodes, shows a well defined C=C stretch band that is not seen in the SEHRS spectrum, but many of the other bands overlap closely. We use ab initio calculations for isolated BPE to assign the spectra, and find excellent agreement between the calculated and measured IR and SERS spectra, and good agreement between the calculated and measured SEHRS spectrum. We find that the apparently overlapping IR, SERS, and SEHRS bands are in fact due to modes that have similar vibrational characteristics but different symmetry. Our results indicate that SEHRS spectra are consistent with the expected (three photon) selection rules and intensities. This rules out an alternative mechanism in which the observed spectrum arises from surface second harmonic generation (SHG) followed by SERS excited at the second harmonic frequency. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface enhanced second harmonic generation (SESHG) has been observed for the first time from a Pt surface in a <10-3 Torr vacuum environment. Both ‘‘smooth,’’ mechanically polished Pt surfaces and rippled Pt microstructures prepared by laser microchemical etching in Cl2(g) were studied with the newly developed technique of SESHG imaging. The etching procedure and the behavior of the Pt surface under the SESHG imaging conditions is reported in detail. The rippled/smooth enhancement factor for SHG excited with 80 ps, 1064 nm pulses from a cw, mode-locked Nd-YAG laser focused to a 3.1 μm 1/e2 radius ranges from 4 to 17, in qualitative agreement with theoretical calculations for isolated Pt spheroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]