Based on a recently introduced mapping formulation [G. Stock and M. Thoss, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 578 (1997)], a classical phase-space description of vibronically coupled molecular systems is developed. In this formulation the problem of a classical treatment of discrete quantum degrees of freedom such as electronic states is bypassed by transforming the discrete quantum variables to continuous variables. Here the mapping formalism is applied to a spin-boson-type system with a single vibrational mode, e.g., representing the situation of a photo-induced electron transfer promoted by a high-frequency vibrational mode. Studying various Poincaré surfaces-of-section, a detailed phase-space analysis of the mapped two-state problem is given, showing that the model exhibits mixed classical dynamics. Furthermore, a number of periodic orbits (PO’s) of the nonadiabatic system are identified. In direct extension of the usual picture of trajectories propagating on a single Born-Oppenheimer surface, these vibronic PO’s describe nuclear motion on several coupled potential-energy surfaces. A quasiclassical approximation is derived that expresses time-dependent quantities of a vibronically coupled system in terms of the PO’s of the system. As an example, it is demonstrated that vibronic PO’s may be used to calculate the time-dependent population probability of the initially excited electronic state. For the system under consideration, already two PO’s are sufficient to qualitatively describe the short-time evolution of the nonadiabatic process. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.