Abstract

Nonadiabatic processes play a fundamental role in the understanding of photochemical processes in excited polyatomic molecules. A particularly interesting and important example is that of radiationless electronic relaxation achieved via ultrafast internal conversion of the electronic excess energy into nuclear motion at conical intersections (CIs). Nowadays not only the existence but also the great relevance of CIs is recognized – they play a fundamental role in the stability of DNA with respect to ultraviolet irradiation [1-3], or in the primary photoisomerization event in vision [4], to name but two prominent examples.

© 2015 IEEE