Optical absorption in Fibonacci lattices at finite temperature

Abstract

We consider the dynamics of Frenkel excitons on quasiperiodic lattices, focusing our attention on the Fibonacci case as a typical example. We evaluate the absorption spectrum by solving numerically the equation of motion of the Frenkel-exciton problem on the lattice. Besides the main absorption line, satellite lines appear in the high-energy side of the spectra, which we have related to the underlying quasiperiodic order. The influence of lattice vibrations on the absorption line shape is also considered. We find that the characteristic features of the absorption spectra should be observable even at room temperature. Consequently, we propose that excitons act as a probe of the topology of the lattice even when thermal vibrations reduce their quantum coherence.