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Photoisomerization in a Dissipative Environment

Materials Science 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

We investigate photoisomerization (PI), the shape change of a molecule upon photoabsorption, in a dissipative environment using a simple spin-boson model. We identify two classes of environment depending on whether it "entangles" with the molecule. In the absence of entanglement, the environment merely causes a blue shift of the required photon frequency and reduces the quantum efficiency of PI. With entanglement the molecule can undergo a quantum phase transition between a state that photoisomerizes to a state that does not.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0612202,
  title  = {Photoisomerization in a Dissipative Environment},
  author = {Chang-Qin Wu and Jian-Xin Li and Dung-Hai Lee},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0612202},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

Related experimental paper cond-mat/0612201

R2 v1 2026-07-22T11:40:45.514Z