Observation of the Low-Frequency Spectrum of the Water Trimer as a Sensitive Test of the Water-Trimer Potential and the Dipole-Moment Surface

Authors

Raffael Schwan, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum
Chen Qu, University of Maryland
Devendra Mani, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum
Nitish Pal, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum
Gerhard Schwaab, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum
Joel M. Bowman, Emory University
Gregory S. Tschumper, University of Mississippi
Martina Havenith, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-6-2020

Abstract

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Intermolecular interactions in bulk water are dominated by pairwise and non-pairwise cooperative interactions. While accurate descriptions of the pairwise interactions are available and can be tested by precise low-frequency spectra of the water dimer up to 550 cm−1, the same does not hold for the three-body interactions. Here, we report the first comprehensive spectrum of the water trimer in the frequency region from 70 to 620 cm−1 using helium-nanodroplet isolation and free-electron lasers. By comparison to accompanying high-level quantum calculations, the experimentally observed intermolecular bands can be assigned. The transition frequencies of the degenerate translation, the degenerate in-plane and the non-degenerate out-of-plane libration, as well as additional bands of the out-of-plane librational mode are reported for the first time. These provide a benchmark for state-of-the-art water potentials and dipole-moment surfaces, especially with respect to three-body interactions.

Relational Format

journal article

Recommended Citation

Schwan, Raffael, et al. “Observation of the Low‐Frequency Spectrum of the Water Trimer as a Sensitive Test of the Water‐Trimer Potential and the Dipole‐Moment Surface.” Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 59, no. 28, July 2020, pp. 11399–407, doi:10.1002/anie.202003851.

DOI

10.1002/anie.202003851

Accessibility Status

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