Interchange-tunneling splitting in HCl dimer in helium nanodroplets

Midinfrared spectra of HCl dimers have been obtained in helium nanodroplets. The interchange-tunneling (IT) splitting in the vibrationally excited state of the bonded H-Cl stretching band (nu(2)) in ((HCl)-Cl-35-(HCl)-Cl-37) dimers was measured to be 2.7 +/- 0.2 cm(-1), as compared to 3.7 cm(-1) in free dimer. From the splitting, the strength of the IT coupling in liquid helium of 0.85 +/- 0.15 cm(-1) was obtained, which is about a factor of 2 smaller than in the free dimer. The results are compared with the previous spectroscopic study of (HF)(2) in He droplets as well as the theoretical study of (HF)(2) and (HCl)(2) dimers in small He clusters. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.