Infrared spectroscopy of carbonyl sulfide inside a pure 3He droplet

The infrared spectrum of the ν(3) band of an OCS (carbonyl sulfide) molecule embedded inside pure (3)He droplets of about 12 × 10(3) atoms reported in 1998 [S. Grebenev, J. P. Toennies, and A. F. Vilesov, Science 279, 2083 (1998)] is carefully evaluated. The spectrum, which consists of a broad central peak and a distinct shoulder at lower energy, was analyzed by assuming unresolved rotational line structure of either a linear or a symmetric top. In each case the spectrum was fitted using either Lorentzian or Gaussian peak shapes with a preassigned fixed temperature of 0.15 K or a best fit temperature. Many of the fits describe the spectra nearly equally well and indicate broad R(0), R(1), and P(1) peaks but no Q-branch, a moment of inertia which is about a factor six greater than for the free molecule, and a temperature of 0.07 ± 0.06 K which is significantly less than 0.15 K determined for mixed (3)He∕(4)He droplets. The increased moment of inertia is consistent with about 11 attached (3)He atoms which take part in the end-over-end rotations of the chromophore. The large line widths are attributed to creation of particle-hole pair excitations in the fermionic droplets.