Application of the spectral element method to the solution of the multichannel Schrödinger equation

Hydrogen-iodine scattering. II. Rovibronic analysis and collisional dynamics

Our recently published [Weike et al., J. Chem. Phys. 159, 244119 (2023)] spin-orbit coupled diabatic potential energy model for HI is used in a thorough analysis of bound and quasi-bound states as well as elastic and inelastic processes in H + I collisions. The potential energy model, designed explicitly for studying scattering, accurately describes the various couplings in the system, which lead to complex dynamics. Ro-vibronic bound and quasi-bound states related to the adiabatic electronic ground state and an excited electronic state are analyzed. Calculations using the full 104 × 104 diabatic matrix model or a single adiabatic state are compared in order to investigate approximations in the latter. Elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections as well as thermal rates between the ground and first excited fine structure levels of iodine are computed for collision energies up to 12 500 cm-1. Resonances related to the quasi-bound states are analyzed in terms of their energy, width, lifetime, and decay probabilities. The effect of different resonances on the thermal rates is discussed. Resonances between 30 000 and 40 000 cm-1 are also studied for selected values of the total angular momentum, in particular their decay probabilities into different final states of iodine and hence their potential effect on branching ratios in photodissociation of HI.

Reaction dynamics within a cluster environment

This perspective article reviews experimental and theoretical works where rare gas clusters and helium nanodroplets are used as a nanoreactor to investigate chemical dynamics in a solvent environment. A historical perspective is presented first followed by specific considerations on the mobility of reactants within these reaction media. The dynamical response of pure clusters and nanodroplets to photoexcitation is shortly reviewed before examining the role of the cluster (or nanodroplet) degrees of freedom in the photodynamics of the guest atoms and molecules.

Large amplitude motion within acetylene-rare gas complexes hosted in helium droplets

Near-infrared spectroscopy of the C2H2-Ar, Kr complexes was performed in the spectral region overlapping the ν3/ν2 + ν4 + ν5 Fermi-type resonance of C2H2. The experiment was conducted along the HElium NanoDroplet Isolation (HENDI) technique in order to study the coupling dynamics between a floppy molecular system (C2H2-Ar and C2H2-Kr) and a mesoscopic quantum liquid (the droplet). Calculations were performed using a spectral element based close-coupling program and state-of-the-art 2-dimensional potential energy surfaces to determine the bound states of the C2H2-Ar and C2H2-Kr complexes and simulate the observed spectra. This furnished a quantitative basis to unravel how the superfluid and non-superfluid components of the droplet affect the rotation and the deformation dynamics of the hosted complex.