Exciton coherence and electron energy loss spectroscopy of conjugated molecules

Signatures of the exciton coherence size, which controls the nonlinear optical response and luminescence of conjugated systems, in the electronic dynamic structure factor S(q, omega) are calculated. We find that for small molecules the momentum dependence of the lowest exciton resonance is purely geometric, reflecting the molecular size rather than a universal exciton size, as suggested recently. For long chains the q dependence is determined by the interplay of the exciton size and the bond-alternation length scales.