MULTIDIMENSIONAL INTERMOLECULAR DYNAMICS FROM TUNABLE FAR-INFRARED LASER SPECTROSCOPY - ANGULAR-RADIAL COUPLING IN THE INTERMOLECULAR POTENTIAL OF ARGON-H2O

Five new vibration-rotation tunneling states of Ar-H2O [the SIGMA and PI(1(11)) and the SIGMA and PI(2(12)) internal rotor states and the n = 1, PI(1(01)) stretching-internal rotor combination level] have been accessed by tunable far-infrared laser spectroscopy. The measured vibrational band origins of transitions to these states are within 2% of predictions made from an anisotropic three-dimensional intermolecular potential surface (denoted AW1) derived from a nonlinear least-squares fit to previous far-infrared spectral data [J. Phys. Chem. 94, 7991 (1990)]. This provides strong evidence that the AW1 intermolecular potential surface incorporates much of the essential physics of the intermolecular forces which bind the cluster. However, larger deviations from the predictions are found in the observed rotational term values. A detailed analysis of these deviations clearly demonstrates the need for even stronger angular-radial coupling in the Ar-H2O intermolecular potential than the already substantial coupling present in the AW1 surface. Specifically, the presently observed SIGMA(1(11)) state and the n = 1, SIGMA(0(00)) state are found to be approximately 65:35 mixtures of the basis states which represent pure stretching and internal rotation. The SIGMA(2(12)) level is found to be mixed just as strongly with n = 2, SIGMA(1(01)). The formalism for accurately deperturbing vibration-rotation-tunneling states coupled by Coriolis interactions used in the above analysis is presented.