Ab initio trajectory surface-hopping study on ultrafast deactivation process of thiophene

The ultrafast S(1)((1)ππ*) → S(0) deactivation process of thiophene in the gas phase has been simulated with the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) based fewest switch surface hopping method. It was found that most of the calculated trajectories (∼80%) decay to the ground state (S(0)) with an averaged time constant of 65 ± 5 fs. This is in good agreement with the experimental value of about 80 fs. Two conical intersections were determined to be responsible for the ultrafast S(1)((1)ππ*) → S(0) internal conversion process. After thiophene is excited to the S(1)((1)ππ*) state in the Franck-Condon region, it quickly relaxes to the minimum of the S(1)((1)ππ*) state, then overcomes a small barrier near the conical intersection (CI((1)ππ*/(1)πσ*)), and eventually arrives at the minimum of one C-S bond fission (S(1)((1)πσ*)). In the vicinity of this minimum, the conical intersection (CI((1)πσ*/S(0))) funnels the electron population to the ground state (S(0)), completing the ultrafast S(1)((1)ππ*) → S(0) internal conversion process. This decay mechanism matches well with previous experimental and theoretical studies.