Plasmons are collective electronic oscillations, and are typically found in large metallic nanostructures and on metallic surfaces. Recently, several experimental and theoretical studies have provided evidence for the existence of plasmons in non-traditional systems, including single organic molecules. Here we present real-time electronic dynamics simulations of photoinduced plasmonic oscillations in a series of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In the neutral molecules the photoexcited α and β spin densities oscillate in phase, while in the radical ionic species the α and β spin densities oscillate completely out of phase, creating a spin-plasmon despite low spin-orbit coupling. This phenomena can be exploited to increase spin-polarized exciton injection into materials used in spintronic devices such as organic spin valves.

Real-time simulation of photoinduced molecular spin-plasmon dynamics

256th National Meeting (2018)

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