Rotational spectrum of the NH₃–He van der Waals complex

¹ Institute for Spectroscopy RAS, 108840 Troitsk, Moscow, Russia
² Max-Planck-Institut fϼr Struktur und Dynamik der Materie, Hamburg, Germany

^* Corresponding author: surin@isan.troitsk.ru

Published online: 13 December 2016

Abstract

The interaction between ammonia and helium has attracted considerable interest over many years, partly because of the observation of interstellar ammonia. The rate coefficients of NH₃–He scattering are an important ingredient for numerical modeling of astrochemical environments. Another, though quite different application in which the NH₃–He interaction can play an important role is the doping of helium clusters with NH₃ molecules to perform high-resolution spectroscopy. Such experiments are directed on the detection of non-classical response of molecular rotation in helium clusters addressing fundamental questions related to the microscopic nature of superfluidity. High-resolution spectroscopy on the NH3–He complex is an important tool for increasing our understanding of intermolecular forces between NH₃ and He.