Vibrationally resolved absorption spectra and ultrafast exciton dynamics in alpha-phase and beta-phase zinc phthalocyanine aggregates

The vibrationally resolved absorption spectra and ultrafast exciton dynamics in alpha-phase and beta-phase zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) aggregates are theoretically investigated using a non-Markovian stochastic Schrodinger equation combined with first-principles calculations. It is found that although similar double-peak structures arise in the Q-band region of the absorption spectra in both phases, these peaks are different in nature and exhibit distinct types of behavior with respect to the aggregation length. The analysis on the basis of an effective two-state model indicates that the two absorption peaks in the alpha phase are from mixing between the charge-transfer (CT) state and the bright Frenkel exciton (FE) state. By contrast, in the beta-phase, the low-energy peak is solely contributed by a low-lying bright FE state, whereas the high-energy peak originates from the interplay between the CT state and another high-lying bright FE state. For the relaxation processes right after photoexcitation from the Q-band region, it is found that within the first dozens of femtoseconds the ZnPc aggregates of both phases tend to temporarily fall into some intermediate states where the population distribution and average electronic energy do not obviously evolve. In addition, it is found that the optical transition of the low-lying bright FE state in the beta phase is not favorable for the formation of bound CT states due to the absence of enough driving forces.