Accelerated Broadband Spectra Using Transition Dipole Decomposition and Padé Approximants

We present a method for accelerating the computation of UV–visible and X-ray absorption spectra in large molecular systems using real-time time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). This approach is based on deconvolution of the dipole into molecular orbital dipole pairs developed by Repisky, et al. [Repisky et al., <i>J. Chem. Theory Comput.</i> <b>2015</b>, <i>11</i>, 980–911] followed by Padé approximants to their Fourier transforms. By combining these two techniques, the required simulation time is reduced by a factor of 5 or more, and moreover, the transition dipoles yield the molecular orbital contributions to each transition, akin to the coefficients in linear-response TDDFT. We validate this method on valence and core-level spectra of gas-phase water and nickel porphyrin, where the results are essentially equivalent to conventional linear response. This approach makes real-time TDDFT competitive against linear response for large molecular and material systems with a high density of states