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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Optical absorption of water: coulomb effects versus hydrogen bonding
P H Hahn1, W G Schmidt, K Seino
1Institut für Festkörpertheorie und -optik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
Abstract:
The optical spectrum of water is not well understood. For example, the main absorption peak shifts upwards by 1.3 eV upon condensation, which is contrary to the behavior expected from aggregation-induced broadening of molecular levels. We investigate theoretically the effects of electron-electron and electron-hole correlations, finding that condensation leads to delocalization of the exciton onto nearby hydrogen-bonded molecules. This reduces its binding energy and has a dramatic impact on the line shape. The calculated spectrum is in excellent agreement with experiment.
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