IR spectra of CH3F in liquid and solid noble gas solutions

The IR absorption spectra of CH3F doped Ar, Kr and Xe solutions have been recorded near the melting point. The full widths at half maximum of fundamental bands increase noticeably after crystallization of the Xe and Kr solutions. A slight narrowing of the bands is observed just below the freezing point of the Ar solution. Treated in the framework of the Debye model for the J-diffusion of a symmetric top rotation, the results suggest a weaker perturbation of rotational motion of CH3F in the ordered Xe and Kr solids at least near the freezing point. At the same time, molecular rotation becomes more hindered when going to solid Ar. The broadening effect has been found to correlate with a hopping increase of the vibrational energy relaxation time, measured by the IR-IR double resonance method.