Dynamically skewed lines: Rotations in superfluid helium

Dynamically skewed spectral lines arise for chirped damped oscillators. We extend this to the chirped damped rotor and apply it to treat the rovibrational line shapes of small molecules isolated in superfluid helium. The simple analysis generates valuable physical insights on the prevailing dynamics of a rotor coupled to its environment. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3469816]