Large amplitude motion within acetylene–rare gas complexes hosted in helium droplets

Near-infrared spectroscopy of the C2H2–Ar, Kr complexes was performed in the spectral region overlapping the ν3/ν2 + ν4 + ν5 Fermi-type resonance of C2H2. The experiment was conducted along the HElium NanoDroplet Isolation (HENDI) technique in order to study the coupling dynamics between a floppy molecular system (C2H2–Ar and C2H2–Kr) and a mesoscopic quantum liquid (the droplet). Calculations were performed using a spectral element based close-coupling program and state-of-the-art 2-dimensional potential energy surfaces to determine the bound states of the C2H2–Ar and C2H2–Kr complexes and simulate the observed spectra. This furnished a quantitative basis to unravel how the superfluid and non-superfluid components of the droplet affect the rotation and the deformation dynamics of the hosted complex.