Inelastic scattering of oppositely charged polarons in conjugated polymers

Within an one-dimensional tight-binding model, we investigate the inelastic scattering processes of oppositely charged polarons in conjugated polymers under the influence of an external electric field, by using a nonadiabatic evolution method. It is found that the polaron pair does not necessarily scatter into an entity(neutral exciton), but a mixed state composed of both polarons and excitons. The yield of the neutral exciton depends sensitively on the strength of applied fields. Additionally, effects of interchain coupling on the scattering processes are also discussed, which shows that the interchain coupling is of fundamental importance and facilitates the formation of the polaron-exciton. Copyright EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/Springer-Verlag 2008