Interchain coupling effects on large acoustic polaron in two parallel molecular chains

Abstract

We examine the effects of the interchain coupling on the properties of the large adiabatic polaron in the two chain model. In dependence of the strength of the interchain coupling (γ) two different types of polaron solutions were found. In the weak coupling regime (γ<1/2), polaron is confined to a single chain. As coupling increases continual transition towards the delocalization takes place - polaron amplitudes on both chains gradually become equalized, in the same time, its binding energy vanishes. Finally, above the critical coupling strength, polaron is fully delocalized - equally distributed over the both chains while its energy lies within the band of free states. Our the most specific prediction is the substantial impact of the polaron motion on its character. This implies the emergence of the two different regimes in charge transfer processes which may be experimentally verified. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.