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Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Probing the OH Stretch in Different Local Environments in Liquid Water
Y Harada1,2,3, J Miyawaki1,2,3, H Niwa1,2
1Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo , 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
Abstract:
We use resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) to resolve vibrational losses corresponding to the OH stretch where the X-ray absorption process allows us to selectively probe different structural subensembles in liquid water. The results point to a unified interpretation of X-ray and vibrational spectroscopic data in line with a picture of two classes of structural environments in the liquid at ambient conditions with predominantly close-packed high-density liquid (HDL) and occasional local fluctuations into strongly tetrahedral low-density liquid (LDL).
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