Full-Quantum Treatment of Molecular Systems Confirms Novel Supracence Photonic Properties

Abstract

Our understanding of molecules has stagnated at a single quantum system, with atoms as Newtonian particles and electrons as quantum particles. Here, however, we reveal that both atoms and electrons in a molecule are quantum particles, and their quantum–quantum interactions create a previously unknown, newfangled molecular property—supracence. Molecular supracence is a phenomenon in which the molecule transfers its potential energy from quantum atoms to photo-excited electrons so that the emitted photon has more energy than that of the absorbed one. Importantly, experiments reveal such quantum energy exchanges are independent of temperature. When quantum fluctuation results in absorbing low-energy photons, yet still emitting high-energy photons, supracence occurs. This report, therefore, reveals novel principles governing molecular supracence via experiments that were rationalized by full quantum (FQ) theory. This advancement in understanding predicts the super-spectral resolution of supracence, and molecular imaging confirms such innovative forecasts using closely emitting rhodamine 123 and rhodamine B in living cell imaging of mitochondria and endosomes.