Constructing polyatomic potential energy surfaces by interpolating diabatic Hamiltonian matrices with demonstration...

Simulating molecular dynamics directly on quantum chemically obtained potential energy surfaces is generally time consuming. The cost becomes overwhelming especially when excited state dynamics is aimed with multiple electronic states. The interpolated potential has been suggested as a remedy for the cost issue in various simulation settings ranging from fast gas phase reactions of small molecules to relatively slow condensed phase dynamics with complex surrounding. Here, we present a scheme for interpolating multiple electronic surfaces of a relatively large molecule, with an intention of applying it to studying nonadiabatic behaviors. The scheme starts with adiabatic potential information and its diabatic transformation, both of which can be readily obtained, in principle, with quantum chemical calculations. The adiabatic energies and their derivatives on each interpolation center are combined with the derivative coupling vectors to generate the corresponding diabatic Hamiltonian and its derivatives, and they are subsequently adopted in producing a globally defined diabatic Hamiltonian function. As a demonstration, we employ the scheme to build an interpolated Hamiltonian of a relatively large chromophore, para-hydroxybenzylidene imidazolinone, in reference to its all-atom analytical surface model. We show that the interpolation is indeed reliable enough to reproduce important features of the reference surface model, such as its adiabatic energies and derivative couplings. In addition, nonadiabatic surface hopping simulations with interpolation yield population transfer dynamics that is well in accord with the result generated with the reference analytic surface. With these, we conclude by suggesting that the interpolation of diabatic Hamiltonians will be applicable for studying nonadiabatic behaviors of sizeable molecules.