0000000000638254
AUTHOR
Martial Boggio-pasqua
On the use of reduced active space in CASSCF calculations
Abstract The complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method is one of the most used approaches to explore theoretically non-adiabatic photochemical processes in medium-size molecular systems. It is also frequently utilized in direct dynamics studies because this method offers a reliable description of the electronic state mixing in the regions of surface crossings (conical intersections). In this context, however, the large computational demand required to perform such on-the-fly molecular dynamics simulations using CASSCF as the electronic structure method means that only relatively small active space can be handled (typically not more than 10 electrons distributed in 10 orbit…
Steering the excited state dynamics of a photoactive yellow protein chromophore analogue with external electric fields
Abstract The first excited state of the Photoactive Yellow Protein chromophore exhibits a strong charge transfer character and the dipole moments of the excited and ground states differ significantly. Furthermore, the excited state charge distribution changes during the isomerization of this chromophore. These observations suggest that external electric fields can be used to control photo-isomerization, providing a new concept for developing photochromic devices, such as e-paper or optical memory. To test this idea, we performed excited state dynamics simulations and static calculations of a PYP chromophore analogue (pCK − ) in an external electric field. By adjusting direction and strength…