1. Rotation of methane and silane molecules in He droplets.
- Author
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Hoshina, Hiromichi, Skvortsov, Dmitry, Sartakov, Boris G., and Vilesov, Andrey F.
- Subjects
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LIQUID helium , *METHANE , *HAMILTONIAN systems , *MOLECULAR rotation , *SILANE compounds - Abstract
This work studies the renormalization of the molecular moments of inertia IG in liquid helium. For this purpose we have measured the rotational-vibrational spectra of the ν3 modes of a series of homologous light spherical top molecules such as CH4, CD4, SiH4, and SiD4 in He droplets. The spectra were fitted to an empirical gas phase Hamiltonian, yielding a set of spectroscopic constants. We found that the additional moment of inertia, ΔIHe, scales approximately as square of IG. This is in agreement with the theoretical model which assigns ΔIHe to coupling of molecular rotation with vibration of He in the molecular vicinity. Our results also indicate a large increase in the effective centrifugal distortion constants, which is another manifestation of the interaction of the molecular rotors with the He environment. Finally, the mechanism of the relaxation of rotational energy in liquid helium is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
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