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Bixon‐Jortner Revisited
Author(s) -
Kommandeur Jan,
Meerts W. Leo
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
israel journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.908
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1869-5868
pISSN - 0021-2148
DOI - 10.1002/ijch.199000013
Subject(s) - chemistry , eigenvalues and eigenvectors , molecule , yield (engineering) , excitation , quantum , spectrum (functional analysis) , quantum mechanics , theoretical physics , chemical physics , physics , thermodynamics , organic chemistry
Abstract After twenty years, the theory of radiationless transitions in molecules is reviewed. Its qualities and its strengths are discussed. It is pointed out, however, that this theory does not explain properly the quantum yield for nonresonant excitation, which should approach unity for large values of detuning. Insertion of an intermediate state remedies this situation and leaves the theory largely unaffected. The requirement of an intermediate state may explain the rather arbitrary variation of quantum yields among organic molecules and it may also be responsible for the rather too large number of interacting states observed in a high‐resolution molecular eigenstate spectrum.