Vibration–rotation alchemy in acetylene (12C2H2), at low vibrational excitation: from high resolution spectroscopy to fast intramolecular dynamics

Modulated super-Gaussian laser pulse to populate a dark rovibrational state of acetylene

A pulse-shaping technique in the mid-infrared spectral range based on pulses with a super-Gaussian temporal profile is considered for laser control. We show a realistic and efficient path to the population of a dark rovibrational state in acetylene (C2H2). The laser-induced dynamics in C2H2 are simulated using fully experimental structural parameters. Indeed, the rotation-vibration energy structure, including anharmonicities, is defined by the global spectroscopic Hamiltonian for the ground electronic state of C2H2 built from the extensive high-resolution spectroscopy studies on the molecule, transition dipole moments from intensities, and the effects of the (inelastic) collisions that are parameterized from line broadenings using the relaxation matrix [A. Aerts, J. Vander Auwera, and N. Vaeck, J. Chem. Phys. 154, 144308 (2021)]. The approach, based on an effective Hamiltonian, outperforms today's ab initio computations both in terms of accuracy and computational cost for this class of molecules. With such accuracy, the Hamiltonian permits studying the inner mechanism of theoretical pulse shaping [A. Aerts et al., J. Chem. Phys. 156, 084302 (2022)] for laser quantum control. Here, the generated control pulse presents a number of interferences that take advantage of the control mechanism to populate the dark state. An experimental setup is proposed for in-laboratory investigation.

Does Infrared Multiphoton Dissociation of Vinyl Chloride Yield Cold Vinylidene?

Velocity map imaging of the infrared multiphoton dissociation of vinyl chloride shows the formation of HCl in rotational levels below J = 10 that are associated with the three-center elimination pathway. The total translational energy release is observed to peak at 3-5 kcal/mol, which is consistent with the low reverse barrier predicted for the formation of HCl with vinylidene coproducts. Direct dynamics trajectory studies from the three-center transition state reproduce the observed distributions and show that the associated vinylidene is formed with only modest rotational excitation, precluding Coriolis-induced mixing among the excited vibrational levels of acetylene that would lead to distribution of vinylidene character into many vibrationally mixed acetylene vibrational levels. The results suggest that infrared multiphoton dissociation of vinyl chloride is an efficient route to synthesis of stable, cold vinylidene.