Figure 1.
Energy level scheme describing electronic (dashed horizontal lines) and vibrational (wavy vertical lines) energy relaxation in carotenoids along a reaction coordinate q. Colored vertical arrows indicate allowed electronic transitions. Electronic states are labeled in ket-notation, while vibrational levels on electronic ground and excited state are denoted by primes and double-primes, respectively. The gray curve depicting the Sm state is shown for completeness and not included in the calculations.