Towards a Unified View of Electron-Phonon Coupling in 1D Solids

We analyze the effect of on-site and on-bond electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling in different classes of quasi one-dimensional (1D) solids in terms of a single model. The model was originally developed to account for e-ph coupling in charge transfer crystals and to interpret their vibrational spectra. The same model is extended to conjugated polymers, showing that important information about the electronic structure can be obtained through a careful analysis of vibrational data. Evidence of e-ph coupling in the spectra of halogen-bridged transition-metal complexes is also presented. The unified model thus applies to different classes of 1D systems and yields transferable e-ph coupling constants.