Method of heavily doped isotopic mixed crystal for determination of exciton splittings and normal modes: Raman spectra of naphthalene

Recent developments on concentrated mixed crystal exciton spectra enabled us to develop new qualitative and quantitative criteria for the identification of vibrational exciton splittings: Observation of an appropriately structured spectrum in the exciton k≠0 gap. This is especially useful for Raman Spectra where the ideal mixed crystal approach is not very useful due to the low intensity of very dilute solid solutions and where the classical pure crystal polarization criterion is difficult to use, especially at low temperatures. The conflicting literature assignments of Raman exciton splittings for naphthalene are resolved: the eight major splittings (≥4 cm^-1) found here have been missed before, while all major "Davydov" splittings (≥4 cm ^-1) recently reported are invalidated. The clarification of exciton splittings leads to some clarification of the normal mode assignments in the naphthalene molecule. A helpful criterion is utilized here as well: isotopic substitution has mild and predictable effects on the exciton bandwidth and splitting.