The Kr-Kr potential energy curve and related physical properties; the XC and HFD-B potential models

Trapping and thermal migration of the first- and second-row atoms in Ar, Kr and Xe crystals

Trapping and temperature-induced migration (TIM) of the first- and second-row atoms A from H to Ne in the face-centered cubic rare gas RG = Ar, Kr and Xe crystals are investigated within the classical crystal model parameterized by the empirically modified pairwise potentials. New ab initio coupled cluster A-RG potentials computed in a uniform way for all the atoms A are used to represent the atom-crystal interactions. Absolute and relative stabilities of the substitutional and interstitial trapping sites, their structures, interstitial migration pathways, related activation energies and rough estimates of the TIM rates are obtained. The isotropic model, which neglects non-zero atomic electronic orbital momentum, reveals that migration of interstitial atoms along the network of conjugated fcc octahedral voids is the generic case for atomic mobility. Anisotropic interactions with a crystal inherent to P-state atoms B, C, O and F are accounted for using the non-relativistic diatomics-in-molecule method. Depending on its sign, interaction anisotropy can alter the structures of interstitial trapping sites and transition states remarkably. This, in turn, can dramatically affect the TIM rates. Comparison with reliable experimental data available for oxygen and hydrogen indicates a systematic overestimation of the measured activation energies, by 30% at worst. A comprehensive literature review accomplished for other atoms reveals a lack of information on the TIM processes and rates, though makes it possible to verify a part of the present results on the trapping site energies and structures.

A Spectroscopic Validation of the Improved Lennard-Jones Model

The Lennard-Jones (LJ) and Improved Lennard-Jones (ILJ) potential models have been deeply tested on the most accurate CCSD(T)/CBS electronic energies calculated for some weakly bound prototype systems. These results are important to plan the correct application of such models to systems at increasing complexity. CCSD(T)/CBS ground state electronic energies were determined for 21 diatomic systems composed by the combination of the noble gas atoms. These potentials were employed to calculate the rovibrational spectroscopic constants, and the results show that for 20 of the 21 pairs the ILJ predictions agree more effectively with the experimental data than those of the LJ model. The CCSD(T)/CBS energies were also used to determine the β parameter of the ILJ form, related to the softness/hardness of the interacting partners and controlling the shape of the potential well. This information supports the experimental finding that suggests the adoption of β≈9 for most of the systems involving noble gas atoms. The He-Ne and He-Ar molecules have a lifetime of less than 1ps in the 200-500 K temperature range, indicating that they are not considered stable under thermal conditions of gaseous bulks. Furthermore, the controversy concerning the presence of a "virtual" or a "real" vibrational state in the He2 molecule is discussed.

Modeling of the thermal migration mechanisms of atomic oxygen in Ar, Kr, and Xe crystals

Accommodation and migration of the ground-state (2s²2p^{4 3}P) oxygen atom in the ideal Ar, Kr, and Xe rare gas crystals are investigated using the classical model. The model accounts for anisotropy of interaction between guest and host atoms, spin-orbit coupling, and lattice relaxation. Interstitial and substitutional accommodations are found to be the only thermodynamically stable sites for trapping atomic oxygen. Mixing of electronic states coupled to lattice distortions justifies that its long-range thermal migration follows the adiabatic ground-state potential energy surface. Search for the migration paths reveals a common direct mechanism for interstitial diffusion. Substitutional atoms are activated by the point lattice defects, whereas the direct guest-host exchange meets a higher activation barrier. These three low-energy migration mechanisms provide plausible interpretation for multiple migration activation thresholds observed in Kr and Xe free-standing crystals, confirmed by reasonable agreement between calculated and measured activation energies. An important effect of interaction anisotropy and a minor role of spin-orbit coupling are emphasized.

Stable axially symmetric atomic impurity in an fcc solid-Ba in rare gases

Closed-shell metal atoms in rare gas solids tend to occupy highly symmetric polyhedral crystal sites, as follows from the generic triplet Jahn-Teller splitting of the S → P excitation bands and complies with the isotropic nature of the dispersion forces. Atypical 2 + 1 Jahn-Teller splitting inherent to axially symmetric sites observed recently for Ba atoms has been therefore interpreted as the defect accommodation. By modeling the structure, stability, and spectra of the Ba atom in the face-centered cubic rare gas crystals, we identify thermodynamically stable crystal site of axial C_3v symmetry that explains experimental observations. We also demonstrate the dramatic effect of the interaction anisotropy on the trapping site structure and stability for an excited P-state atom. Our results provide strong evidence for stable axially symmetric accommodation of isotropic impurity in a close-packed lattice.

Accommodation of a dimer in an Ar-like lattice: exploring the generic structural motifs

A global optimization strategy is applied to Lennard-Jones models describing the stable trapping sites of a dimer in the face-centered cubic Ar-like lattice. Effective volumes of the trapping sites, quantified as the number of host atoms dislodged from the lattice, are mapped onto the parameter space defined by the strength and range of the dimer interaction potentials. The two models considered differ in the host-guest interaction and give very different maps that reflect the effect of local lattice relaxation. A hierarchical complete-linkage clustering technique is applied to identify generic structural types of the dimer accommodations. The dominant types found and enlisted maintain the symmetry of the isolated dimer and possess high tetrahedral and octahedral symmetry of the host environment with respect to the dimer atoms or center and can be roughly classified as the "whole" or "per atom" dimer accommodations. The results are compared to the analysis of the analogous model for trapped atoms and realistic model for trapped alkaline-earth metal dimers. Implications for matrix isolation spectroscopy are discussed.

Fragmentation of KrN+ clusters after electron impact ionization II. Long-time dynamics simulations of Kr7+ evolution and the role of initial electronic excitation

Long time simulations, up to 100 ns, have been performed for the fragmentation of Kr₇⁺ clusters after electron impact ionization. They rely on DIM approaches and hybrid non-adiabatic dynamics combining mean field and decoherence driven either by Tully fewest switches (TFS) algorithm or through electronic amplitude (AMP) calculations. With both methods, for the first time, when the initial electronic excited state belongs to group II correlating to P_1/2 atomic ions, the fragmentation ratio in mainly monomer and dimer ions agrees very well with known experimental results. A complex non-adiabatic dynamics is found where initial neutral monomer evaporations due to gradual deexcitation over electronic states of group II are followed by a non-adiabatic transition across a wide energy gap of the spin-orbit origin to electronic states of group I. The resulting excess of kinetic energy causes the final fragmentation of charged intermediate fragments to stable ionic monomers or dimers. Characteristic times of these processes have been estimated. The kinetic energy distribution of the neutral and ionic monomers (the dominating final fragments) has been analyzed in detail. Interestingly they exhibit some signature of the initial excited electronic state which could allow for an experimental identification.

Accurate virial coefficients of gaseous krypton from state-of-the-art ab initio potential and polarizability of the krypton dimer

We have developed a new krypton-krypton interaction-induced isotropic dipole polarizability curve based on high-level ab initio methods. The determination was carried out using the coupled-cluster singles and doubles plus perturbative triples method with very large basis sets up to augmented correlation-consistent sextuple zeta as well as the corrections for core-core and core-valence correlation and relativistic effects. The analytical function of polarizability and our recently constructed reference interatomic potential [J. M. Waldrop et al., J. Chem. Phys. 142, 204307 (2015)] were used to predict the thermophysical and electromagnetic properties of krypton gas. The second pressure, acoustic, and dielectric virial coefficients were computed for the temperature range of 116 K-5000 K using classical statistical mechanics supplemented with high-order quantum corrections. The virial coefficients calculated were compared with the generally less precise available experimental data as well as with values computed from other potentials in the literature {in particular, the recent highly accurate potential of Jäger et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 144, 114304 (2016)]}. The detailed examination in this work suggests that the present theoretical prediction can be applied as reference values in disciplines involving thermophysical and electromagnetic properties of krypton gas.

Rovibrational laser jet-cooled spectroscopy of SF6–rare gas complexes in the ν3 region of SF6

High resolution infrared laser jet-cooled spectroscopy provides accurate structural data of 1 : 1 SF₆–Rg heterodimers and describes quantitatively the intermolecular interaction model between SF₆ and a rare gas atom.

Modeling of Manganese Atom and Dimer Isolated in Solid Rare Gases: Structure, Stability, and Effect on Spin Coupling

Structures and energies of the trapping sites of manganese atom and dimer in solid Ar, Kr, and Xe are investigated within the classical model, which balances local distortion and long-range crystal order of the host and provides a means to estimate the relative site stabilities. The model is implemented with the additive pairwise potential field based on the ab initio and best empirical interatomic potential functions. In agreement with experiment, Mn single substitution (SS) and tetrahedral vacancy (TV) occupation are identified as stable for Ar and Kr, whereas the SS site is only found for Xe. Stable trapping sites of the weakly bound Mn₂ dimer are shown to be the mergers of SS and/or TV atomic sites. For Ar, (SS + SS) and (TV + TV) sites are close in energy, whereas (SS + TV) site lies higher. The (SS + SS) accommodation is identified as the only stable site in Kr and Xe at low energies. The results are compared with the resonance Raman, electron spin resonance, and absorption spectroscopy data. Reproducing the numbers of stable sites, the calculations tend to underestimate the matrix effect on the dimer vibrational frequency and spin-spin coupling constant. Nonetheless, the level of agreement is found to be informative for tentative assignments of the complex features seen in Mn₂ matrix isolation spectroscopy.

Fragmentation of KrN+ clusters after electron impact ionization. Short-time dynamics simulations and approximate multi-scale treatment

Post-ionization fragmentation of small ionic krypton clusters, Kr_N⁺ (N = 3–13), has been investigated using a semiclassical non-adiabatic dynamics approach with inclusion of electronic quantum decoherence, and compared with experiment.

Discriminating between Metallic and Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Using Physisorbed Adsorbates: Role of Wavelike Charge-Density Fluctuations

Discriminating between metallic (M) and semiconducting (S) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) remains a fundamental challenge in the field of nanotechnology. We address this issue by studying the adsorption of the isotropic atoms Xe, Kr, and a highly anisotropic molecule n heptane on M- and S-SWNTs with density functional theory that includes many-body dispersion forces. We find that the distinct polarizabilities of M- and S-SWNTs exhibit significantly different physisorption properties, which are also strongly controlled by the SWNT's diameter, adsorption site, adsorbate coverage, and the adsorbate's anisotropy. These findings stem from the wavelike nature of charge-density fluctuations in SWNTs. Particularly, these results allow us to rationalize the unusual sqrt[3]×sqrt[3]R30^{0} phase of Kr atoms on small gap M-SWNTs and the double desorption peak temperatures of n heptane on M-SWNTs in experiments, and also propose the n heptane as an effective sensor for experimentally discriminating M- and S-SWNTs.

Heavy rare-gas atomic pairs and the "double penalty" issue: Isotropic Raman lineshapes by Kr2, Xe2, and KrXe at room temperature

We report absolutely calibrated isotropic Raman lineshapes for Kr2 and Xe2 and for KrXe at 294.5 K and compare them to quantum-mechanically generated lineshapes by using state-of-the-art second-order Møller-Plesset and DFT/B3LYP data sets for the induced mean dipole polarizability ᾱ. A very good agreement between the numerical and the experimental data was observed but the large uncertainty margins and the short Raman frequency interval probed in our experiment prevented us from rating on a more refined scale the performance of the tested ᾱ models. These drawbacks are inherent in isotropic Raman spectrum measurements and amplified for dissimilar pairs because, for such systems and spectra, the unreliable operation of subtracting optical signals of comparable magnitude occurs twice per Raman frequency shift value, thus penalizing twice the quality of the measured data. In light of our findings and of previously reported evidence about related electric properties in Kr2 and Xe2 and in KrXe, we are left with no doubt as to the consistency of the induced-polarizability and interatomic-potential data used for these three systems at the reported level of accuracy.

Properties of a suggested commensurate monolayer solid of Kr/NaCl(001)

It is shown that a commensurate square monolayer solid of Kr/NaCl(001) can be stabilized with a model incorporating a rather large energy corrugation amplitude. Then a square bilayer is formed under a compression and preempts the formation of an incommensurate triangular monolayer lattice. The lattice dynamics of the commensurate monolayer may be complex, because the modeling admits the possibility that it has a (2 × 2) unit cell with four Kr atoms.

An exchange-Coulomb model potential energy surface for the Ne-CO interaction. I. Calculation of Ne-CO van der Waals spectra

Exchange-Coulomb model potential energy surfaces have been developed for the Ne-CO interaction. The initial model is a three-dimensional potential energy surface based upon computed Heitler-London interaction energies and literature results for the long-range induction and dispersion energies, all as functions of interspecies distance, the orientation of CO relative to the interspecies axis, and the bond length of the CO molecule. Both a rigid-rotor model potential energy surface, obtained by setting the CO bond length equal to its experimental spectroscopic equilibrium value, and a vibrationally averaged model potential energy surface, obtained by averaging the stretching dependence over the ground vibrational motion of the CO molecule, have been constructed from the full data set. Adjustable parameters in each model potential energy surface have been determined through fitting a selected subset of pure rotational transition frequencies calculated for the (20)Ne-(12)C(12)O isotopolog to precisely known experimental values. Both potential energy surfaces provide calculated results for a wide range of available experimental microwave, millimeter-wave, and midinfrared Ne-CO transition frequencies that are generally far superior to those obtained using the best current literature potential energy surfaces. The vibrationally averaged CO ground state potential energy surface, employed together with a potential energy surface obtained from it by replacing the ground vibrational state average of the CO stretching dependence of the potential energy surface by an average over the first excited CO vibrational state, has been found to be particularly useful for computing and/or interpreting mid-IR transition frequencies in the Ne-CO dimer.

Beyond the Lennard-Jones model: a simple and accurate potential function probed by high resolution scattering data useful for molecular dynamics simulations

Scattering data, measured for rare gas-rare gas systems under high angular and energy resolution conditions, have been used to probe the reliability of a recently proposed interaction potential function, which involves only one additional parameter with respect to the venerable Lennard-Jones (LJ) model and is hence called Improved Lennard-Jones (ILJ). The ILJ potential eliminates most of the inadequacies at short- and long-range of the LJ model. Further reliability tests have been performed by comparing calculated vibrational spacings with experimental values and calculated interaction energies at short-range with those obtained from the inversion of gaseous transport properties. The analysis, extended also to systems involving ions, suggests that the ILJ potential model can be used to estimate the behavior of unknown systems and can help to assess the different role of the leading interaction components. Moreover, due to its simple formulation, the physically reliable ILJ model appears to be particularly useful for molecular dynamics simulations of both neutral and ionic systems.

London dispersion forces by range-separated hybrid density functional with second order perturbational corrections: The case of rare gas complexes

A satisfactory account of the van der Waals (vdW) (London dispersion) forces is, in general not possible by the Kohn-Sham method using standard local, semilocal generalized gradient approximation (GGA), or meta-GGA density functionals. The recently proposed range-separated hybrid (RSH) approach, supplemented by second order perturbational corrections (MP2) to include long-range dynamic correlation effects, offers a physically consistent, seamless description of dispersion forces. It is based on a rigorous generalization of the Kohn-Sham method, where long-range exchange and correlation effects are treated by wave function methods, while short-range electron exchange and correlation are handled by local or semilocal functionals. The method is tested on a series of rare gas dimers in comparison with standard wave function theory and density functional theory approaches. In contrast to the most successful exchange correlation functionals, which describe at best the vdW minimum, the RSH+MP2 approach is valid also in the asymptotic region and the potential curve displays the correct 1/R(6) behavior at large internuclear separations. In contrast to usual MP2 calculations, the basis set superposition error is considerably reduced, making RSH+MP2 an ideal tool for exploring the potential energy surface of weakly bound molecular complexes.

Theoretical modeling of postionization fragmentation of rare-gas trimer cations

The dynamics of ionic rare-gas trimers (Ar(3) (+), Kr(3) (+), and Xe(3) (+)) produced by a sudden ionization of neutral precursors is investigated theoretically with a hybrid classical-quantum method for solving the equations of motion governed by a Hamiltonian obtained from a previously tested diatomics-in-molecules model. Initial conditions are selected with Monte Carlo sampling. Two possibilities for generating the initial electronic state are considered: diabatic (local) and adiabatic (delocalized). The dynamics generally leads to fragmentation, producing either monomer ions or dimer ions in a relatively short time; however, a large number of long-lived metastable trimer ions are also seen in some cases. We have analyzed the dynamics with respect to the fraction of monomer ions produced, the distribution of the kinetic energy of the products, and the distribution of fragmentation times of the trimers. Initial diabatic ionization is associated with much faster fragmentation than adiabatic ionization. Spin-orbit coupling plays an important role in the fragmentation dynamics.

Excitation of the shear horizontal mode in a monolayer by inelastic helium atom scattering

Inelastic scattering of a low-energy atomic helium beam (HAS) by a physisorbed monolayer is treated in the one-phonon approximation using a time-dependent wave packet formulation. The calculations show that modes with shear horizontal polarization can be excited near high symmetry azimuths of the monolayer, in agreement with recent experiments. The parameters of the calculations are chosen to match the conditions of HAS experiments for triangular incommensurate monolayer solids of xenon, krypton, and argon adsorbed on the (111) face of platinum, and the results show many of the systematic experimental trends for relative excitation probability of the shear horizontal and longitudinal acoustic phonon branches. The inelastic scattering at beam energies near 8 meV is exceedingly sensitive to small misalignment between the scattering plane and the high symmetry directions of the monolayer solid. The diffraction and inelastic processes arise from a strong coupling of the incident atom to the target and the calculated results show large departures from expectations based on analogies to inelastic thermal neutron scattering.

Investigation of the density dependence of the shear relaxation time of dense fluids

The shear relaxation time, a key quantity in the theory of viscosity, is calculated for the Lennard–Jones fluid and fluid krypton. The shear relaxation time is initially calculated by the Zwanzig–Mountain method, which defines this quantity as the ratio of the shear viscosity coefficient to the infinite shear modulus. The shear modulus is calculated from highly accurate radial distribution functions obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the Lennard–Jones potential and a realistic potential for krypton. This calculation shows that the density dependence of the shear relaxation time isotherms of the Lennard–Jones fluid and Kr pass through a minimum. The minimum in the shear relaxation times is also obtained from calculations using the different approach originally proposed by van der Gulik. In this approach, the relaxation time is determined as the ratio of shear viscosity coefficient to the thermal pressure. The density of the minimum of the shear relaxation time is about twice the critical density and is equal to the common density, which was previously reported for supercritical gases where the viscosity of the gas becomes independent of temperature. It is shown that this common point occurs in both gas and liquid phases. At densities lower than this common density, even in the liquid state, the viscosity increases with increasing temperature.Key words: dense fluids, radial distribution function, shear modulus, shear relaxation time, shear viscosity.

A reliable new three-dimensional potential energy surface for H2–Kr

An improved three-dimensional potential energy surface for the H(2)-Kr system is determined from a direct fit of new infrared spectroscopic data for H(2)-Kr and D(2)-Kr to a potential energy function form based on the exchange-Coulomb model for the intermolecular interaction energy. These fits require repetitive, highly accurate simulations of the observed spectra, and both the strength of the potential energy anisotropy and the accuracy of the new data make the "secular equation perturbation theory" method used in previous analyses of H(2)-(rare gas) spectra inadequate for the present work. To address this problem, an extended version of the "iterative secular equation" method was developed which implements direct Hellmann-Feynman theorem calculation of the partial derivatives of eigenvalues with respect to parameters of the Hamiltonian which are required for the fits.

High-resolution vacuum ultraviolet laser spectroscopy of the C 0+u ← X 0+g transition of Xe2

Rotationally resolved (1 + 1′), resonance-enhanced, two-photon ionization spectra of the C 0+u ← X 0+g transition of several isotopomers of Xe2 have been recorded. Rotational constants have been determined for the v′ = 14–26 levels of the C 0+u Rydberg state and the v′′ = 0 and 1 levels of the X 0+g ground state, and band origins have been determined with an absolute accuracy of 0.015 cm–1 for the transitions to the v′ = 14–26 levels of the C 0+u state of the 129Xe2, 129Xe–132Xe, and 131Xe–136Xe isotopomers. The equilibrium internuclear separation of the X 0+g ground state (Re = 4.3773(49) Å) was determined from the rotational constants of the v′′ = 0 and 1 levels. The analysis of the isotopic shifts of the band origins enabled the confirmation of the absolute numbering of the vibrational levels of the C 0+u state determined by Lipson et al. (R.H. Lipson, P.E. Larocque, and B.P. Stoicheff. J. Chem. Phys. 82, 4470 (1985)). A semiempirical interaction potential for the X 0+g ground state was derived in a nonlinear fitting procedure using the present spectroscopic results, the positions of the v′′ = 2–9 levels determined by Freeman et al. (D.E. Freeman, K. Yoshino, and Y. Tanaka. J. Chem. Phys. 61, 4880 (1974)) and experimental values for the second virial coefficient. The interaction potential is similar to previous semiempirical potentials but the dissociation energy (De = (196.1 ± 1.1) cm–1) differs from the value of 183.1 cm–1 determined in the latest ab initio calculation (P. Slavíček, R. Kalus, P. Paška, I. Odvárková, P. Hobza, and A. Malijevský. J. Chem. Phys. 119, 2102 (2003)).

Key words: high-resolution vacuum ultraviolet laser spectroscopy, rare gas dimers and their cations, photoionisation, Xe2, rotationally resolved electronic spectrum.