Ground state and excitation dynamics in Ag doped helium clusters

Spatial quenching of a molecular charge-transfer process in a quantum fluid: the Csx-C60 reaction in superfluid helium nanodroplets

A recent experimental study [Renzler et al., J. Chem. Phys., 2016, 145, 181101] on superfluid helium nanodroplets reported different reactivities for Cs atoms and Cs₂ dimers with C₆₀ fullerenes inside helium droplets. Alkali metal atoms and clusters are heliophobic, therefore typically residing on the droplet surface, while fullerenes are fully immersed into the droplet. In this theoretical study, which combines standard methods of computational chemistry with orbital-free helium density functional theory, we show that the experimental findings can be interpreted in the light of a quenched electron-transfer reaction between the fullerene and the alkali dopant, which is additionally hindered by a reaction barrier stemming from the necessary extrusion of helium upon approach of the two reactants.

Photoexcited Ag ejection from a low-temperature He cluster: a simulation study by nonadiabatic Ehrenfest ring-polymer molecular dynamics

Nonadiabatic ring-polymer molecular dynamics simulations were performed to understand the photoexcitation dynamics of a low-temperature Ag·He₅₀₀ cluster.

Solvation and spectral line shifts of chromium atoms in helium droplets based on a density functional theory approach

The interaction of an electronically excited, single chromium (Cr) atom with superfluid helium nanodroplets of various size (10 to 2000 helium (He) atoms) is studied with helium density functional theory. Solvation energies and pseudo-diatomic potential energy surfaces are determined for Cr in its ground state as well as in the y⁷P, a⁵S, and y⁵P excited states. The necessary Cr–He pair potentials are calculated by standard methods of molecular orbital-based electronic structure theory. In its electronic ground state the Cr atom is found to be fully submerged in the droplet. A solvation shell structure is derived from fluctuations in the radial helium density. Electronic excitations of an embedded Cr atom are simulated by confronting the relaxed helium density (ρ_He), obtained for Cr in the ground state, with interaction pair potentials of excited states. The resulting energy shifts for the transitions z⁷P ← a⁷S, y⁷P ← a⁷S, z⁵P ← a⁵S, and y⁵P ← a⁵S are compared to recent fluorescence and photoionization experiments.

Laser ionization and spectroscopy of Cu in superfluid helium nanodroplets

Mass and optical spectroscopic methods are used for the analysis of copper (Cu) atoms and clusters doped to helium nanodroplets (He_N). A two-color resonant two-photon ionization scheme is applied to study the Cu ²P[Formula: see text]S_1/2 ground state transition. The absorption is strongly broadened for Cu atoms submerged inside helium nanodroplets and a comparison with computed literature values is provided. An observed ejection of the dopant from the droplet is triggered upon excitation, populating energetically lower states. The formation of Cu _n clusters up to Cu₇ inside helium nanodroplets was observed by means of electron impact ionization mass spectroscopy.

Coinage metal exciplexes with helium atoms: a theoretical study of M*(2L)He(n) (M = Cu, Ag, Au; L = P,D)

The structure and energetics of exciplexes M*((2)L)He(n) (M = Cu, Ag and Au; L = P and D) in their vibrational ground state are studied by employing diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC). Interaction potentials between the excited coinage metals and He atoms are built using the Diatomics-in-Molecule (DIM) approach and ab initio potential curves for the M((2)L)-He dimers. Extending our previous work [Cargnoni et al., J. Phys. Chem. A, 2011, 115, 7141], we computed the dimer potential for Au in the (2)P and (2)D states, as well for Cu and Ag in the (2)D state, employing basis set superposition error-corrected Configuration Interaction calculations. We found that the (2)Π potential correlating with the (2)P state of Au is substantially less binding than for Ag and Cu, a trend well supported by the M(+) ionic radiuses. Conversely, the interaction potentials between a (n - 1)d(9)ns(2 2)D metal and He present a very weak dependency on M itself or the projection of the angular momentum along the dimer axis. This is due to the screening exerted by the ns(2) electrons on the hole in the (n - 1)d shell. Including the spin-orbit coupling perturbatively in the DIM energy matrix has a major effect on the lowest potential energy surface of the (2)P manifold, the one for Cu allowing the formation of a "belt" of five He atoms while the one for Au being completely repulsive. Conversely, spin-orbit coupling has only a weak effect on the (2)D manifold due to the nearly degenerate nature of the diatomic potentials. Structural and energetic results from DMC have been used to support experimental indications for the formation of metastable exciplexes or the opening of non-radiative depopulation channels in bulk and cold gaseous He.

Higher order diffusion Monte Carlo propagators for linear rotors as diffusion on a sphere: development and application to O2@He(n)

Exploiting the theoretical treatment of particles diffusing on corrugated surfaces and the isomorphism between the "particle on a sphere" and a linear molecule rotation, a new diffusion kernel is introduced to increase the order of diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) simulations involving linear rotors. Tests carried out on model systems indicate the superior performances of the new rotational diffusion kernel with respect to the simpler alternatives previously employed. In particular, it is evidenced a second order convergence toward exact results with respect to the time step of dynamical correlation functions, a fact that guarantees an identical order for the diffusion part of the DMC projector. The algorithmic advantages afforded by the latter are discussed, especially with respect to the "a posteriori" and "on the fly" extrapolation schemes. As a first application to the new algorithm, the structure and energetics of O(2)@He(n) (n = 1-40) clusters have been studied. This was done to investigate the possible cause of the quenching of the reaction between O(2) and Mg witnessed upon increasing the size of superfluid He droplets used as a solvent. With the simulations on O(2) indicating a strong localization in the cluster core, the behaviour as a function of n is ascribed to the extremely fluxional comportment of Mg@He(n), which dwells far from the droplet center, albeit being solvated, when n is large.

A first-principles study of the influence of helium atoms on the optical response of small silver clusters

Optical excitation spectra of Ag(n) and Ag(n)@He(60) (n = 2, 8) clusters are investigated in the framework of the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) within the linear response regime. We have performed the ab initio calculations for two different exact exchange functionals (GGA-exact and LDA-exact). The computed spectra of Ag(n)@He(60) clusters with the GGA-exact functional accounting for exchange-correlation effects are found to be generally in a relatively good agreement with the experiment. A strategy is proposed to obtain the ground-state structures of the Ag(n)@He(60) clusters and in the initial process of the geometry optimization, the He environment is simulated with buckyballs. A redshift of the silver clusters spectra is observed in the He environment with respect to the ones of bare silver clusters. This observation is discussed and explained in terms of a contraction of the Ag-He bonding length and a consequent confinement of the s valence electrons in silver clusters. Likewise, the Mie-Gans predictions combined with our TDDFT calculations also show that the dielectric effect produced by the He matrix is considerably less important in explaining the redshifting observed in the optical spectra of Ag(n)@He(60) clusters.

Ca impurity in small mixed (4)He-(3)He clusters

The structure of small mixed helium clusters doped with one calcium atom has been determined within the diffusion Monte Carlo framework. The results show that the calcium atom sits at the (4)He-(3)He interface. This is in agreement with previous studies, both experimental and theoretical, performed for large clusters. A comparison between the results obtained for the largest cluster we have considered for each isotope shows a clear tendency of the Ca atom to reside in a deep dimple at the surface of the cluster for (4)He clusters, and to become fully solvated for (3)He clusters. We have calculated the absorption spectrum of Ca around the 4s4p<--4s(2) transition and have found that it is blueshifted from that of the free-atom transition by an amount that depends on the size and composition of the cluster.

Ground state potential energy surfaces and bound states of M-He dimers (M=Cu,Ag,Au): a theoretical investigation

We present an ab initio investigation on the ground state interaction potentials [potential energy surface (PES)] between helium and the group 11 metal atoms: copper, silver, and gold. To the best of our knowledge, there are no previous theoretical PESs proposed for Cu-He and Au-He, and a single one for Ag-He [Z. J. Jakubek and M. Takami, Chem. Phys. Lett. 265, 653 (1997)], computed about 10 years ago at MP2 level and significantly improved by our study. To reach a high degree of accuracy in the determination of the three M-He potentials (M=Cu,Ag,Au), we performed extensive series of test computations to establish the appropriate basis set, the theoretical method, and the computational scheme for these systems. For each M-He dimer we computed the PES at the CCSD(T) level of theory, starting from the reference unrestricted Hartree-Fock wave function. We described the inner shells with relativistic small core pseudopotentials, and we adopted high quality basis sets for the valence electrons. We also performed CCSDT computations in a limited set of M-He internuclear distances, adopting a medium-sized basis set, such as to define for each dimer a CCSD(T) to CCSDT correction term and to improve further the quality of the CCSD(T) interaction potentials. The Cu-He complex has minimum interaction energy (E(min)) of -28.4 microhartree at the internuclear distance of 4.59 A (R(min)), and the short-range repulsive wall starts at 4.04 A (R(E=0)). Quite interestingly, the PES of Ag-He is more attractive (E(min)=-33.8 microhartree) but presents nearly the same R(min) and R(E=0) values, 4.60 and 4.04 A, respectively. The interaction potential for Au-He is markedly deeper and shifted at shorter distances as compared to the lighter complexes, with E(min)=-69.6 microhartree, R(min)=4.09 A and R(E=0)=3.60 A. As a first insight in the structure of M-He(n) aggregates, we determined the rovibrational structure of the three M-He dimers. The Cu-He and Ag-He potentials support just few rotational excitations, while the Au-He PES admits also a bound vibrational excitation.

Photodissociation of alkyl iodides in helium nanodroplets. II. Solvation dynamics

The solvation dynamics of nonthermal species in liquid helium has been investigated by photolyzing alkyl iodide molecules, CH3I, C2H5I, and CF3I, embedded in helium nanodroplets. Iodine and CH3 fragments are found to leave the droplets solvated by a finite number of helium atoms, this in contrast to C2H5 and CF3 fragments. The speed distributions of the IHeN and CH3HeN complexes show a prominent correlation with the degree of solvation N. It is argued that this correlation is caused by a dynamical adjustment of the solvation structure size to the relative speed of the traveling fragments as they pass through the helium bath. The absence of C2H5HeN and CF3HeN complexes is attributed to the large internal energy of these alkyl fragments which leads to a rapid destruction of any possibly formed complexes.

Ion induced snowballs as a diagnostic tool to investigate the caging of metal clusters in large helium droplets

Metal clusters embedded in ultracold helium nanodroplets are exposed to femtosecond laser pulses with intensities of 10(13)-10(14) W/cm2. The influence of the matrix on the ionization and fragmentation dynamics is studied by pump-probe time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Special attention is paid to the generation of helium snowballs around positive metal ions (Me(z+)He(N), z=1,2). Closings of the first and second helium shells are found for silver at N(1)=10,12 and N(2)=32,44, as well as for magnesium at N1=19-20. The distinct abundance enhancement of helium snowballs in the presence of isolated atoms and small clusters in the droplets is used as a diagnostics to explore the cage effect. For silver, a reaggregation of the clusters is observed at 30 ps after femtosecond laser excitation.

Excited State Dynamics of Ag Atoms in Helium Nanodroplets

The excited state dynamics of silver atoms embedded in helium nanodroplets have been investigated by a variety of spectroscopic techniques. The experiments reveal that 5p 2P1/2 <-- 5s 2S1/2 excitation of embedded silver atoms results almost exclusively in the ejection of silver atoms populating the 2P1/2 state. In contrast, excitation to the 5p 2P3/2 state leads to the ejection of not only silver atoms in the 2P1/2, 2P3/2, and 2D5/2 excited states but also of AgHe and AgHe2. These AgHe exciplexes are mainly formed in the A2Pi1/2 electronic state. In addition, it is found that a considerable fraction of the 2P3/2 excited silver atoms become solvated within the helium droplets, most probably as AgHe2. The observations can be accounted for by a model in which the metastable 2D5/2 state of silver acts as a doorway state in the relaxation of 2P3/2 excited silver atoms.

Application of valence-bond techniques to the study of weakly bound complexes. The potential energy surface of the Ne–CH4system

We present a comprehensive survey of the Molecular Orbital-Valence Bond (MO-VB) method, a theoretical scheme developed within the framework of the Valence Bond theory to deal with weakly bound intermolecular complexes. According to the MO-VB, the wavefunction of the system is expressed as a truncated non-orthogonal Configuration Interaction expansion, which is size extensive and a priori free of basis set superposition error. We report on the recent developments of the method, which extend the range of application of the MO-VB to intermolecular complexes with a quite large number of correlated electrons, showing that VB-based methods are nowadays a valid alternative to Molecular Orbital approaches also in this field. The MO-VB has been applied to study extensively the Ne-CH(4) complex, and compared with the more standard MP4 and CCSD(T) results. We determined two analytical Potential Energy Surfaces (PES) for this system, computed at MO-VB and MP4 level, which represent the first ones coming entirely from ab initio computations. The features of our potentials are discussed, and compared to the single analytical potential which includes the anisotropy available in the literature, determined about twenty years ago by Udo Buck and co-workers using a semiempirical approach [U. Buck, A. Kolhase, D. Secrest, T. Phillips, G. Scoles and F. Grein, Mol. Phys., 1985, 55, 1233]. The differences among the three PES are quite relevant, and are due to play a relevant role in the theoretical simulations of the dynamical properties of the Ne-CH(4) system.

Improved diffusion Monte Carlo propagators for bosonic systems using Itô calculus

The construction of importance sampled diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) schemes accurate to second order in the time step is discussed. A central aspect in obtaining efficient second order schemes is the numerical solution of the stochastic differential equation (SDE) associated with the Fokker-Plank equation responsible for the importance sampling procedure. In this work, stochastic predictor-corrector schemes solving the SDE and consistent with Itô calculus are used in DMC simulations of helium clusters. These schemes are numerically compared with alternative algorithms obtained by splitting the Fokker-Plank operator, an approach that we analyze using the analytical tools provided by Ito; calculus. The numerical results show that predictor-corrector methods are indeed accurate to second order in the time step and that they present a smaller time step bias and a better efficiency than second order split-operator derived schemes when computing ensemble averages for bosonic systems. The possible extension of the predictor-corrector methods to higher orders is also discussed.

Predicting atomic dopant solvation in helium clusters: The MgHen case

We present a quantum Monte Carlo study of the solvation and spectroscopic properties of the Mg-doped helium clusters MgHe(n) with n=2-50. Three high-level [MP4, CCSD(T), and CCSDT] MgHe interaction potentials have been used to study the sensitivity of the dopant location on the shape of the pair interaction. Despite the similar MgHe well depth, the pair distribution functions obtained in the diffusion Monte Carlo simulations markedly differ for the three pair potentials, therefore indicating different solubility properties for Mg in He(n). Moreover, we found interesting size effects for the behavior of the Mg impurity. As a sensitive probe of the solvation properties, the Mg excitation spectra have been simulated for various cluster sizes and compared with the available experimental results. The interaction between the excited 1P Mg atom and the He moiety has been approximated using the diatomics-in-molecules method and the two excited 1pi and 1sigma MgHe potentials. The shape of the simulated MgHe50 spectra shows a substantial dependency on the location of the Mg impurity, and hence on the MgHe pair interaction employed. To unravel the dependency of the solvation behavior on the shape of the computed potentials, exact density-functional theory has been adapted to the case of doped He(n) and various energy distributions have been computed. The results indicate the shape of the repulsive part of the MgHe potential as an important cause of the different behaviors.