Effect of rare gas matrix confinement on water nuclear spin conversion

9 Jan 2018, 12:35
1h 30m
NO Building, Room C 60 (ETH Zürich, centre)

NO Building, Room C 60

ETH Zürich, centre

Sonneggstrasse 5 8092 Zürich

Speakers

Dr Jonathan Vermette (Université de sherbrooke)Mr Thomas Putaud (Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (LERMA), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR 8112, F-75005, Paris, France)

Description

The properties of the nuclear spin isomers of the water molecule are of great interest in astrophysics since the ortho:para ratio (OPR) is assumed to provide insight into the formation mechanism and history of comets as well as other celestial bodies [1,2]. Technological advances are also foreseen for ortho-water enriched samples in magnetic resonance applications, in analogy with hyperpolarisation experiments relying on para-hydrogen. Motivated by these perspectives, technological bottlenecks need to be overcome: the development of an efficient separation methodology and the improvement in storage strategies through a better understanding of their inter-conversion mechanism [3-5]. Recent investigations of the inter-conversion kinetics in isolated water molecules, trapped in rare gas matrices at cryogenic temperatures, may provide important clues of the underlying mechanism [6]. In particular, the inter-conversion rates accelerate dramatically in the heavier water isotopologues H217O and H218O compared the normal water. This may provide insight into the role played by intramolecular (i.e., spin-rotation and spin-spin) as well as intermolecular (i.e., rotation-translation, inter-molecular spin-spin) couplings in the inter-conversion between the ortho and para-water nuclear spin isomers which are at play in the evolution of H2O nuclear spin states in all phases of water including ice. 1. Crovisier, J., et al., The spectrum of Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) Observed with the Infrared Space Observatory at 2.9 Astronomical Units from the Sun Science 275, 1904-1907 (1997); Mumma, M.J. et al., Detection of water vapor in Halley's comet, Science 232, 1523-1528 (1986). 2. Hogerheijde, M.R, et al., Detection of the Water Reservoir in a Forming Planetary System, Science 334, 338-340 (2011). 3. Z.-D. Sun,K. Takagi,and F. Matsushima, Sepa-ration and conversion dynamics of four nuclear spini somers of ethylene, Science310,1938–1941(2005) 4. D. a. Horke, Y.-P. Chang, K. Dugocki, and J. Kupper, Separat-ing para and ortho water, Angewandte Chemie (Internationaled. in English) 53, 11965–8 (2014) 5. Turgeon et al, Preparation, isolation, storage and spectroscopic characterization of water vapour enriched in the ortho-H2O nuclear spin isomer, Phys.Rev.A 86, 062710 (2012). 6. P.-A. Turgeon, J. Vermette, G. Alexandrowicz, Y. Peperstraete, L. Philippe, M. Bertin, J.-H. Fillion, X. Michaut, and P. Ayotte, Connement eFFects on the nuclear spin isomer conversion of H2O, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 121, 1571 (2017)

Significance statement

First study of water isotopomers nuclear spin conversion confined in rare gas matrix.

Primary author

Mr Thomas Putaud (Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (LERMA), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR 8112, F-75005, Paris, France)

Co-authors

Benoit Tremblay (Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 8233, MONARIS, F-7005, Paris, France) Prof. Gil Alexandrowicz (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology) Dr Isabelle Braud (Université de Sherbrooke) Prof. Jean-Hugues Fillion (Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (LERMA), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR 8112, F-75005, Paris, France) Dr Jonathan Vermette (Université de sherbrooke) Dr Laurent Philippe (Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (LERMA), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR 8112, F-75005, Paris, France) Dr Mathieu Bertin (Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (LERMA), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR 8112, F-75005, Paris, France) Pascale Soulard (Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 8233, MONARIS, F-7005, Paris, France) Prof. Patrick Ayotte (Université de Sherbrooke) Dr Pierre-Alexandre Turgeon (Université de Sherbrooke) Dr Xavier Michaut (Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (LERMA), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR 8112, F-75005, Paris, France)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.