Infrared intensity in small ammonia and water clusters

Helium droplet technique has been used in order to measure the strength of the infrared absorption in small ammonia and water clusters as a function of size. Hydrogen bonding in ammonia and water dimers causes an enhancement of the intensity of the hydrogen stretching bands by a factor of four and three, respectively. Two types of the hydrogen bonded clusters show different size dependence of the infrared intensity per hydrogen bond. In ammonia (NH3)(2) and (NH3)(3) it is close to the crystal value. In water clusters, it increases monotonically with cluster size being in tetramers, a factor of two smaller than in the ice. The measured infrared intensity in water clusters is found to be a factor of two to three smaller as compared to the results of numerical calculations. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.