Infrared spectra of small molecular ions trapped in solid neon
- Optical Technology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (United States)
The infrared spectrum of a molecular ion provides a unique signature for that species, gives information on its structure, and is amenable to remote sensing. It also serves as a comparison standard for refining ab initio calculations. Experiments in this laboratory trap molecular ions in dilute solid solution in neon at 4.2 K in sufficient concentration for observation of their infrared spectra between 450 and 4000 cm{sup !1}. Discharge-excited neon atoms produce cations by photoionization and/or Penning ionization of the parent molecule. The resulting electrons are captured by other molecules, yielding anions which provide for overall charge neutrality of the deposit. Recent observations of ions produced from C{sub 2}H{sub 4} and BF{sub 3} will be discussed. Because of their relatively large possibility of having low-lying excited electronic states, small, symmetric molecular cations are especially vulnerable to breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Some phenomena which can result from this breakdown will be discussed. Ion-molecule reaction rates are sufficiently high that in some systems absorptions of dimer cations and anions are also observed. When H{sub 2} is introduced into the system, the initially-formed ion may react with it. Among the species resulting from such ion-molecule reactions that have recently been studied are O{sub 4}{sup +}, NH{sub 4}{sup +}, HOCO{sup +}, and HCO{sub 2}{sup !}.
- OSTI ID:
- 22390917
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1642, Issue 1; Conference: ICCMSE-2010: International Conference of Computational Methods in Sciences and Engineering 2010, Kos (Greece), 3-8 Oct 2010; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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