The onset of chaos in the vibrational dynamics of LiNC/LiCN

Recent advances in vibrational spectroscopy have greatly enhanced the possibilities of research of highly excited states in molecular systems of moderate size. At sufficiently high level of excitation the correspondence principle holds, and classical mechanical arguments constitute a useful interpretative tool. The corresponding dynamics often become very complex specially in systems with floppy degrees of freedom, and periodic motion plays an important role for its understanding. In this paper, we present a computational procedure to systematically calculate periodic orbits of LiNCLiCN with a given symmetry, that has the additional advantage of providing a useful insight into the onset of chaos in this system.