Excitations in polyacetylene

Experimental and theoretical studies have shown that excitonic effects play an important role in the optical properties of conjugated polymers. The optical absorption spectrum of trans-polyacetylene, for example, can be understood as completely dominated by the formation of exciton bound states. Our Bethe-Salpeter method is used to study the absorption spectrum of two conjugated polymers: trans-polyacetylene and poly-phenylene-vinylene (PPV).

Polyacetylene supercell

Absorption spectrum