Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.134, No.30, 12430-12433, 2012
Fast Photodriven Electron Spin Coherence Transfer: A Quantum Gate Based on a Spin Exchange J-Jump
Photoexcitation of the electron donor (D) within a linear, covalent donor-acceptor-acceptor molecule (D-A(1)-A(2)) in which A(1) = A(2) results in sub-nanosecond formation of a spin-coherent singlet radical ion pair state, (1)(D+center dot-A(1)(-center dot)-A(2)), for which the spin-spin exchange interaction is large: 2J = 79 +/- 1 mT. Subsequent laser excitation of A(1)(-center dot) during the lifetime of (1)(D+center dot-A(1)(-center dot)-A(2)) rapidly produces (1)(D+center dot-A(1)-A(2)(-center dot)), which abruptly decreases 2J 3600-fold. Subsequent coherent spin evolution mixes (1)(D+center dot-A(1)-A(2)(-center dot)) with (3)(D+center dot-A(1)-A(2)(-center dot)), resulting in mixed states which display transient spin-polarized EPR transitions characteristic of a spin-correlated radical ion pair. These photodriven J-jump experiments show that it is possible to use fast laser pulses to transfer electron spin coherence between organic radical ion pairs and observe the results using an essentially background-free time-resolved EPR experiment.