Professor Scoles is supported by a grant from the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program to study the structure and dynamics of molecules in clusters using molecular beams and infrared lasers. These studies should enhance our knowledge of interactions between molecules and their dependence on intramolecular motion. There are several projects all using IR laser spectroscopy and molecular beams. These are IR spectroscopy (1) of molecules seeded in clusters, (2) of van der Waals molecules, (3) of polyatomic molecules under high resolution, (4) by multiphoton excitation, and (5) of physisorbed molecules on a single crystal surface. Professor Scoles will measure directly the temperature of unsupported molecular clusters and take vibrational spectra of neutral molecules imbedded in highly quantum clusters of para-hydrogen and helium. The state-resolved intramolecular vibrational relaxation and IR multiphoton excitation studies are aimed at improving our understanding of, and control of, intramolecular motion and regioselective reactivity and clarifying the influence of the coherence of the exciting light on this type of phenomena. IR spectroscopy will also be used to study monolayers of gases physisorbed on single crystal surfaces which have been structurally characterized using low energy helium beam diffraction.
