Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy of an excitonically coupled dimer

The two-dimensional three-pulse photon echo signals from a dimer system are investigated in detail. A perturbative approach is used to calculate the response of the system via a numerical propagation of the density matrix in exciton state representation. Exciton vibrational coupling is modeled by Redfield relaxation theory. The main goal of this paper is to dissect the two-dimensional spectrum of the dimer to give better understanding of how the dynamics influence the spectral features. We will show how different Liouville pathways lead to the appearance/disappearance of diagonal and cross peaks. The inclusion of a Gaussian shaped electric field will be contrasted to the use of delta-pulses in the impulsive limit. The impulsive limit is found to be a satisfactory approximation at long population times, while at shorter times, in the pulse-overlap region, more realistic electric fields are called for.