Multistate vibronic interactions and nonadiabatic wave packet dynamics in the second photoelectron band of chlorine dioxide

Abstract

We report theoretical investigations on the second photoelectron band of chlorine dioxide molecule by ab initio quantum dynamical methods. This band exhibits a highly complex structure and represents a composite portrait of five excited energetically close-lying electronic states of ClO₂⁺. Much of this complexity is likely to be arising due to strong vibronic interactions among these electronic states – which we address and examine herein. The near equilibrium MRCI potential energy surfaces (PESs) of these five cationic states reported by Peterson and Werner [J. Chem. Phys. 99 (1993) 302] for the C_2v configuration, are extended for the C_s geometry assuming a harmonic vibration along the asymmetric stretching mode. The strength of the vibronic coupling parameters of the Hamiltonian are calculated by ab initio CASSCF-MRCI method and conical intersections of the PESs are established. The diabatic Hamiltonian matrix is constructed within a linear vibronic coupling scheme and the resulting PESs are employed in the nuclear dynamical simulations, carried out with the aid of a time-dependent wave packet approach. Companion calculations are performed for transitions to the uncoupled electronic states in order to reveal explicitly the impact of the nonadiabatic coupling on the photoelectron dynamics. The theoretical findings are in good accord with the experimental observations. The femtosecond nonradiative decay dynamics of ClO₂⁺ excited electronic states mediated by conical intersections is also examined and discussed.