TY - JOUR
T1 - The physics of rotational tunneling
T2 - Hole-burning spectroscopy of methyl groups
AU - Somoza, Mark M.
AU - Friedrich, Josef
PY - 2006/11
Y1 - 2006/11
N2 - Methyl groups are most outstanding quantum systems due to their inherent symmetry properties which cannot be destroyed by any kind of lattice disorder. We show how optical hole-burning techniques can be employed to measure rotational tunneling relaxation processes. Since the tunneling parameters are extremely sensitive to changes in the host lattice, there is a rich variety of relaxation phenomena that can be observed. Hole-burning techniques have the capability of measuring not only extremely slow processes with high precision but also rather fast processes. We exploit this possibility to show that the relaxation times at 2 K change by 14 orders of magnitude if the permutation symmetry of the methyl group is destroyed by asymmetric deuterium substitution.
AB - Methyl groups are most outstanding quantum systems due to their inherent symmetry properties which cannot be destroyed by any kind of lattice disorder. We show how optical hole-burning techniques can be employed to measure rotational tunneling relaxation processes. Since the tunneling parameters are extremely sensitive to changes in the host lattice, there is a rich variety of relaxation phenomena that can be observed. Hole-burning techniques have the capability of measuring not only extremely slow processes with high precision but also rather fast processes. We exploit this possibility to show that the relaxation times at 2 K change by 14 orders of magnitude if the permutation symmetry of the methyl group is destroyed by asymmetric deuterium substitution.
KW - Nuclear spin polarization
KW - Rotational tunneliug relaxation
KW - Substitution of hydrogen by deuterium in the methyl group
KW - Symmetry species conversion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33845614010&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33845614010
SN - 0132-6414
VL - 32
SP - 1345
EP - 1354
JO - Fizika Nizkikh Temperatur (Kharkov)
JF - Fizika Nizkikh Temperatur (Kharkov)
IS - 11
ER -