TY - JOUR
KW - buffer-gas cooling
KW - molecules
KW - spectroscopy
AU - Bryan Changala
AU - Marissa Weichman
AU - Kevin Lee
AU - Martin Fermann
AU - Jun Ye
AB - The unique physical properties of buckminsterfullerene, C<sub>60</sub>, have attracted intense research activity since its original discovery. Total quantum state-resolved spectroscopy of isolated C<sub>60</sub> molecules has been of particularly long-standing interest. Such observations have, to date, been unsuccessful owing to the difficulty in preparing cold, gas-phase C<sub>60</sub> in sufficiently high densities. Here we report high-resolution infrared absorption spectroscopy of C<sub>60</sub> in the 8.5-micron spectral region (1180 to 1190 wave number). A combination of cryogenic buffer-gas cooling and cavity-enhanced direct frequency comb spectroscopy has enabled the observation of quantum state-resolved rovibrational transitions. Characteristic nuclear spin statistical intensity patterns confirm the indistinguishability of the 60 carbon-12 atoms, while rovibrational fine structure encodes further details of the molecule's rare icosahedral symmetry.
BT - Science
DA - 2019-01
DO - 10.1126/science.aav2616
N2 - The unique physical properties of buckminsterfullerene, C<sub>60</sub>, have attracted intense research activity since its original discovery. Total quantum state-resolved spectroscopy of isolated C<sub>60</sub> molecules has been of particularly long-standing interest. Such observations have, to date, been unsuccessful owing to the difficulty in preparing cold, gas-phase C<sub>60</sub> in sufficiently high densities. Here we report high-resolution infrared absorption spectroscopy of C<sub>60</sub> in the 8.5-micron spectral region (1180 to 1190 wave number). A combination of cryogenic buffer-gas cooling and cavity-enhanced direct frequency comb spectroscopy has enabled the observation of quantum state-resolved rovibrational transitions. Characteristic nuclear spin statistical intensity patterns confirm the indistinguishability of the 60 carbon-12 atoms, while rovibrational fine structure encodes further details of the molecule's rare icosahedral symmetry.
PY - 2019
SP - 49
EP - 54
T2 - Science
TI - Rovibrational quantum state resolution of the C60 fullerene
UR - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6422/49
VL - 363
SN - 0036-8075
ER -