SHORT-TIME SEMICLASSICAL DYNAMICS OF OPTICAL PROCESSES IN CONDENSED PHASES

We describe a new semiclassical approximation of short time dynamics in a multidimensional system that explicitly includes multiple anharmonic wells in the ground electronic state. Coherent states are propagated in a locally quadratic approximation to the excited state potential using variationally optimized equations of motion for a common set of parameters for each ground state well. Initial applications of this method are to optical response of small van der Waals clusters.