Symmetry-breaking in the endofullerene D2O@C60 revealed in the quantum dynamics of ortho and para deuterated-water
In papers on H2O@C60 we described a symmetry-breaking interaction affecting the coupled translation-rotation quantum dynamics of water molecules inside a C60 cage. This was revealed by a 0.5meV splitting of the ortho-H2O ground state. This new proposal is dedicated to an investigation of analogous symmetry breaking in the deuterated isotopomer D2O@C60. Using a 190mg sample of D2O@C60 and scattering from deuterium nuclei, with IN4 in July 2016 we obtained high quality INS spectra enabling us to conclusively identify and assign the translational modes of the confined D2O molecule. In this new proposal our attention turns to low energy, |DE| < 6 meV, in particular to fine structure splittings which arise due to symmetry breaking interactions of the entrapped molecule with its C60 cage. Such splittings are indicated in the IN4 spectra but to fully understand the rotor-cage interactions and other cage-cage interactions responsible for this symmetry-breaking we propose studying the low-lying energy levels with much higher resolution on IN5. Fundamental interest also arises from the substantially different character of the spin-symmetry of D2O, with its indistinguishable 2H bosons.
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HORSEWILL Anthony J.; LEVITT Malcolm; MAMONE Salvatore; OLLIVIER Jacques; ROLS Stephane and Richard J. Whitby. (2017). Symmetry-breaking in the endofullerene D2O@C60 revealed in the quantum dynamics of ortho and para deuterated-water. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.7-04-154
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