A simple model for high rotational excitations of molecules in a superfluid

• Verfasst von: Cherepanov, Igor N. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Bighin, Giacomo [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Schouder, Constant A. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Chatterley, Adam S. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Stapelfeldt, Henrik [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Lemeshko, Mikhail [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: A simple model for high rotational excitations of molecules in a superfluid
• Verf.angabe: Igor N. Cherepanov, Giacomo Bighin, Constant A. Schouder, Adam S. Chatterley, Henrik Stapelfeldt, and Mikhail Lemeshko
• Ausgabe: Version v1
• E-Jahr: 2022
• Jahr: February 1, 2022
• Umfang: 9 S.
• Fussnoten: Version 1 vom 31. Januar 2022 ; Gesehen am 07.10.2022
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: De.arxiv.org
• Ort Quelle: [S.l.] : Arxiv.org, 1991
• Jahr Quelle: 2022
• Band/Heft Quelle: (2022), Artikel-ID 2201.13030, Seite 1-9
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
• Sach-SW: Condensed Matter - Quantum Gases
• Sach-SW: Physics - Atomic and Molecular Clusters
• Sach-SW: Physics - Chemical Physics
• K10plus-PPN: 180442577X

Abstract

We present a simple quantum mechanical model describing excited rotational states of molecules in superfluid helium nanodroplets, as recently studied in non-adiabatic molecular alignment experiments [Cherepanov et al., Phys. Rev. A 104, L061303 (2021)]. We show that a linear molecule immersed in a superfluid can be seen as an effective symmetric top, similar to the rotational structure of radicals, such as OH or NO, but with the angular momentum of the superfluid playing the role of the electronic angular momentum in free molecules. The model allows to evaluate the effective rotational and centrifugal distortion constants for a broad range of species and to explain the crossover between light and heavy molecules in superfluid $^4$He in terms of the many-body wavefunction structure. Most important, the simple theory allows to answer the question as to what happens when the rotational angular momentum of the molecule increases beyond the lowest excited states accessible by infrared spectroscopy. Some of the above mentioned insights can be acquired by analyzing a simple 2x2 matrix.