On the geometry dependence of molecular dimer spectra with an application to aggregates of perylene bisimide

We study spectroscopic properties of molecular dimers coupled by dipole-dipole interactions within the framework of time-dependent quantum mechanics. A systematic variation of the dimer geometry allows to establish relationships between the latter and structures in the absorption spectrum. The theoretical model is constructed with the purpose to characterize the changes in absorption and emission properties arising upon aggregation of perylene bisimides. Measured and calculated spectra are compared, thereby addressing the question if a simple exciton model is capable to describe excited state properties of nanoaggregates of these molecules. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.