Helium Nanodroplet Isolation Spectroscopy in an Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory

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14 May 2020, Version 1

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Working Paper

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Abstract

A home-built helium nanodroplet isolation spectrometer has been utilized by

undergraduate students in course-based experiments to investigate the rovibrational dynamics

of small molecules. Helium nanodroplets are well known to simplify the spectroscopy of

embedded molecules owing to their low temperature (0.4 K) and weakly interacting nature.

In the infrared spectral region, this results in a small number of rotationally resolved lines that

can often be collected and analyzed in several lab periods. We demonstrate the advantages of

using this technique in an upper-level undergraduate chemistry course for which the laser

spectroscopy of helium solvated 13C-labelled formic acid was investigated for the first time.

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