Complex Monte Carlo Light-Driven Dynamics of Monomers in Functionalized Bond Fluctuation Model Polymer Chains

Abstract

We study Monte Carlo dynamics of the monomers and center of mass of a model polymer chain functionalized with azobenzene molecules in the presence of an inhomogeneous linearly polarized laser light. The simulations use a generalized Bond Fluctuation Model. The mean squared displacements of the monomers and the center of mass are analyzed in a period of Monte Carlo time typical for a build-up of Surface Relief Grating. Approximate scaling laws for mean squared displacements are found and interpreted in terms of sub- and superdiffusive dynamics for the monomers and center of mass. A counterintuitive effect is observed, where the monomers perform subdiffusive motion but the resulting motion of the center of mass is superdiffusive. This result disparages theoretical approaches based on an assumption that the dynamics of single monomers in a chain can be characterized in terms of independent identically distributed random variables.

Keywords

• bond-fluctuation model
• photoinduced dynamics
• azo-polymers
• subdiffusion
• superdiffusion