Theoretical Studies on Vibrationally Resolved Optical Spectra of Polycyclic Aromatic Molecules

Abstract: Polycyclic aromatic molecules are of great interest owing to their many important applications in chemistry and have therefore been the focus of investigations for over half a century with spectroscopic techniques. This thesis is devoted to the modeling of vibrationally resolved optical spectra of polycyclic aromatic molecules. The general goal is to demonstrate the importance of nuclear motion on the electronic spectra and provide reliable spectral assignments and spectral fingerprints to distinguish different molecular isomers that are often not possible to be identified by experiments alone. In this thesis, four sets of polycyclic aromatic molecules have been systematically studied by using quantum chemistry methods. The simulated vibronic spectra are in good agreement with their experimental counterparts, which enables to provide correct reassignments for the electronic spectra.