Toward a simple molecular understanding of sum frequency generation at air-water interfaces
Second-order vibrational spectroscopies successfully isolate signals from interfaces, but they report on intermolecular structure in a complicated and indirect way. Here we adapt a perspective on vibrational response developed for bulk spectroscopies to explore the microscopic fluctuations to which sum frequency generation (SFG), a popular surface-specific measurement, is most sensitive. We focus exclusively on inhomogeneous broadening of spectral susceptibilities for OH stretching of HOD as a dilute solute in D{sub 2}O. Exploiting a simple connection between vibrational frequency shifts and an electric field variable, we identify several functions of molecular orientation whose averages govern SFG. The frequency-dependence of these quantities is well captured by a pair of averages, involving alignment of OH and OD bonds with the surface normal at corresponding values of the electric field. The approximate form we obtain for SFG susceptibility highlights a dramatic sensitivity to the way a simulated liquid slab is partitioned for calculating second-order response.
- Research Organization:
- Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Chemical Sciences Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 948475
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-1513E
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry B
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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