Vibration-rotation spectra of HCl in rare-gas liquid mixtures: Molecular dynamics simulations of Q-branch absorption

Calculation of the Transport and Relaxation Properties of the Ar···HCl van der Waals Complex Using a New Potential Energy Surface: Comparison of the Classical and Full Quantum Mechanical Kinetic Theory Results with Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The intermolecular potential energy surface (PES) of the Ar···HCl complex was calculated at the RCCSD(T)/aug-cc-pvQz-BF level of theory. The obtained potential was expanded in terms of Legendre polynomials and fitted to a mathematical model. The fitting results are highly correlated with the ab initio PES data with SD = 5.9 × 10^-3 cm^-1 and average absolute deviation (AAD) = 4.0 × 10^-6 cm^-1. The interaction second virial coefficients (B₁₂) in the temperature range of 190-480 K were calculated by considering classical and first quantum corrections and compared with the available experimental data. A reasonable agreement with the experimental and calculated B₁₂ was obtained. The PES was also used to obtain the rovibrational energy levels, and the spectroscopic rovibrational constants were obtained. It was found that the D₀ values differ ∼2.25 cm^-1 from the experimental values of the ground rovibrational state. Furthermore, the obtained potential was used to calculate the transport and relaxation properties using full quantum close-coupling (CC) formalism and the classical kinetic theory methods based on the Mason-Monchik approximation (MMA). It was found that the deviation between MMA and CC calculations is increased with increasing the temperature due to the higher influence of the rotational degrees of freedom on the transport properties. Also, the contribution of the inelastic (off-diagonal) transitions for diffusion coefficient is higher than the viscosity. Furthermore, the classical molecular dynamics simulations were performed using LJ(12,6) and Vashishta models, to calculate the interaction diffusion and viscosity coefficients, and compared with the results of the full quantum CC calculations. The obtained results confirm that the Vashishta model is better fitted to the ab initio potentials and is more accurate than LJ(12,6) in calculation of the diffusion coefficients.

Two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy from the gas to liquid phase: density dependent J-scrambling, vibrational relaxation, and the onset of liquid character

Ultrafast 2DIR spectra and pump-probe responses of the N₂O ν₃ asymmetric stretch in SF₆ as a function of density from the gas to supercritical phase and liquid are reported. 2DIR spectra unequivocally reveal free rotor character at all densities studied in the gas and supercritical region. Analysis of the 2DIR spectra determines that J-scrambling or rotational relaxation in N₂O is highly efficient, occurring in ∼1.5 to ∼2 collisions with SF₆ at all non-liquid densities. In contrast, N₂O ν₃ vibrational energy relaxation requires ∼15 collisions, and complete vibrational equilibrium occurs on the ∼ns scale at all densities. An independent binary collision model is sufficient to describe these supercritical state point dynamics. The N₂O ν₃ in liquid SF₆ 2DIR spectrum shows no evidence of free rotor character or spectral diffusion. Using these 2DIR results, hindered rotor or liquid-like character is found in gas and all supercritical solutions for SF₆ densities ≥ρ* = 0.3, and increases with SF₆ density. 2DIR spectral analysis offers direct time domain evidence of critical slowing for SF₆ solutions closest to the critical point density. Applications of 2DIR to other high density and supercritical solution dynamics and descriptions are discussed.

Super- and sub-Lorentzian effects in the Ar-broadened line wings of HCl gas

Using previously recorded spectra of HCl diluted in Ar gas at room temperature for several pressure conditions, we show that the absorptions in between successive P and R transitions are significantly different from those predicted using purely Lorentzian line shapes. Direct theoretical predictions of the spectra are also made using requantized classical molecular dynamics simulations and an input HCl-Ar interaction potential. They provide the time evolution of the dipole auto-correlation function (DAF) whose Fourier-Laplace transform yields the absorption spectrum. These calculations very well reproduce the observed super-Lorentzian behavior in the troughs between the intense lines in the central part of the band and the tendency of absorption to become sub-Lorentzian in the band wings between high J lines. The analysis shows that the former behavior is essentially due to incomplete collisions which govern the DAF at very short times. In addition, the increasing influence of line-mixing when going away from the band center explains the tendency of absorption to become more and more sub-Lorentzian in the wings.

Vibrational relaxation of chloroiodomethane in cold argon

Electronically exciting the C-I stretch in the molecule chloroiodomethane CH2ClI embedded in a matrix of argon at 12 K can lead to an isomer, iso-chloroiodomethane CH2Cl-I, that features a chlorine iodine bond. By temporally probing the isomer at two different frequencies of 435 nm and 485 nm, multiple timescales for isomerization and vibrational energy relaxation were inferred [T. J. Preston, et al., J. Chem. Phys. 135, 114503 (2011)]. This relaxation is studied theoretically using molecular dynamics by considering 2 and 3 dimensional models. Multiple decay rate constants of the same order of magnitude as the experiment are observed. These decay rate constants are interpreted within the context of the Landau-Teller theory. Sensitivity of the decay rate constants on the bath and system parameters shed more light into the mechanism of vibrational energy relaxation.

Dynamical characterization of rotationally hindered species in liquids

The rotational dynamics of HCl in liquid Ar has been studied by means of molecular-dynamics simulations. We calculate the lifetimes of weakly bound HCl-Ar dimers induced by the anisotropic pair interaction. It is shown that, although lifetimes are small with respect to the reorientational decorrelation, the time interval between the breaking down and formation of the next dimer is negligibly small. Thus, with respect to the rotational dynamics of the probe, the effect is similar to that and eventually would cause a time-stable complex. This provokes a peculiar hindered rotation of the diatomic in the liquid which is macroscopically embodied in the infrared spectrum of the solution as a Q-branch nonexistent otherwise.

Experimental analysis and modified rotor description of the infrared fundamental band of HCl in Ar, Kr, and Xe solutions

We report an experimental study of the rotovibrational fundamental PQR-band shapes in the IR absorption spectra of HCl dissolved in condensed rare gases in a wide range of temperatures. The effective vibrational frequencies are determined from analysis of the fine rotational structure partially resolved in the band wings. The central Q-branch components appear redshifted with respect to the effective vibrational frequencies, their shifts in different solvents found to match the HCl stretching mode shifts in binary Rg...HCl van der Waals heterodimers. Theoretical quasi-free rotor and modified rotor models are applied to describe evolution of the band profiles at changing thermodynamic conditions. Both models are shown to reproduce equally well the observed spectral density distributions in the band wings. However, the modified rotor formalism that accounts for depopulation of the lower-energy rotational solute states provides better agreement with the experiment in the range of the P- and R-branch maxima. We surmise that the Q branches separated from the measured spectral profiles are formed by transitions between rotationally hindered states of diatomic molecules coupled to the solvent by the local anisotropy of the interaction potential.

Infrared spectral profiles in liquids and atom-diatom interactions

Molecular dynamics simulations of the infrared spectrum of a generic simple polar diatomic in a liquid nonpolar solvent allow to reproduce the different prototypical experimental line shapes of this kind of systems. This is feasible by using different solute-solvent anisotropic potentials at fixed thermodynamic conditions. In the limit cases, the rotation of the diatomic is explained in terms of a quasifree motion or a rotational diffusion evolution and the spectra show a doublet structure formed by P and R branches or a unique collapsed branch, respectively. When the profile contains three branches, including an intense Q branch in the vicinity of the center of the band, rotational evolution presents a particular hindering that can be understood by studying the influence on rotational spectral densities of the different time scales involved in rotational relaxation. Cancellation/enhancement effects among spectral density terms arising from intermediate and long times (0.4-1 ps) are essential to understand rotational hindering.