Ion-induced nucleation. II. Polarizable multipolar molecules

Density functional theory is applied to ion-induced nucleation of polarizable multipolar molecules. The asymmetric nature of the ion-molecule interaction is shown to cause the sign preference in ion-induced nucleation. When the ion-molecule interaction is weak, the observed sign preference is consistent with that of the bare ion-molecule interaction potential and decreases with increasing supersaturation. However, as the ion-molecule interaction becomes stronger, the sign preference in the reversible work exhibits some nontrivial behavior. For molecular parameters applicable for CS2 and CH4, the predicted values of the reversible work of nucleation depend on the sign of the ion charge, yielding a difference in the nucleation rate by factors of 10 to 10^(2) and 10 to 10^(5), respectively

Rydberg atom mediated polar molecule interactions: a tool for molecular-state conditional quantum gates and individual addressability

We study the possibility to use interaction between a polar molecule in the ground electronic and vibrational state and a Rydberg atom to construct two-qubit gates between molecular qubits and to coherently control molecular states. A polar molecule within the electron orbit in a Rydberg atom can either shift the Rydberg state, or form Rydberg molecule. Both the atomic shift and the Rydberg molecule states depend on the initial internal state of the polar molecule, resulting in molecular state dependent van der Waals or dipole-dipole interaction between Rydberg atoms. Rydberg atoms mediated interaction between polar molecules can be enhanced up to $10^{3}$ times. We describe how the coupling between a polar molecule and a Rydberg atom can be applied to coherent control of molecular states, specifically, to individual addressing of molecules in an optical lattice and non-destructive readout of molecular qubits

Influence of antisymmetric exchange interaction on quantum tunneling of magnetization in a dimeric molecular magnet Mn6

We present magnetization measurements on the single molecule magnet Mn6, revealing various tunnel transitions inconsistent with a giant-spin description. We propose a dimeric model of the molecule with two coupled spins S=6, which involves crystal-field anisotropy, symmetric Heisenberg exchange interaction, and antisymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange interaction. We show that this simplified model of the molecule explains the experimentally observed tunnel transitions and that the antisymmetric exchange interaction between the spins gives rise to tunneling processes between spin states belonging to different spin multiplets.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Directionality in van der Waals Interactions: the Case of 4-Acetylbiphenyl Adsorbed on Au(111)

We report on a theoretical study of adsorption of 4-Acetylbiphenyl molecule and its diffusion properties in the main directions of the Au(111) surface. Structural changes of the molecule, which are induced by adsorption lead to stronger conjugation of the $\pi$-system. The molecule is adsorbed in a flat configuration on the surface with roughly the same binding energy along the [110] and [112] directions, in good agreement with experiments. Furthermore, the diffusion barriers imply an important directionality of the molecule-surface interactions. This is somewhat surprising because our calculations show that the prevailing interaction is the long-range molecule-surface van der Waals interaction. Despite of its weakness, the van der Waals interaction discriminates the preferential adsorption sites as well as imposes a molecular geometry that needs to be considered when rationalizing the diffusion barriers

Homogeneous reactions of hydrocarbons, silane, and chlorosilanes in radiofrequency plasmas at low pressures

The ion-molecule and radical-molecule mechanisms are responsible for the dissociation of hydrocarbon, silane, and chlorosilane monomers and the formation of polymerized species, respectively, in an RF plasma discharge. In a plasma containing a mixture of monomer and argon the rate-determining step for both dissociation and polymerization is governed by an ion-molecule type of interaction. Adding hydrogen or ammonia to the monomer-argon mixture transforms the rate-determining step from an ion-molecule interaction to a radical-molecule interaction for both monomer dissociation and polymerization

Current induced light emission and light induced current in molecular tunneling junctions

The interaction of metal-molecule-metal junctions with light is considered within a simple generic model. We show, for the first time, that light induced current in unbiased junctions can take place when the bridging molecule is characterized by a strong charge-transfer transition. The same model shows current induced light emission under potential bias that exceeds the molecular excitation energy. Results based on realistic estimates of molecular-lead coupling and molecule-radiation field interaction suggest that both effects should be observable.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX

Dynamical Casimir-Polder interaction between a chiral molecule and a surface

We develop a dynamical approach to study the Casimir-Polder force between a initially bare molecule and a magnetodielectric body at finite temperature. Switching on the interaction between the molecule and the field at a particular time, we study the resulting temporal evolution of the Casimir-Polder interaction. The dynamical self-dressing of the molecule and its population-induced dynamics are accounted for and discussed. In particular, we find that the Casimir-Polder force between a chiral molecule and a perfect mirror oscillates in time with a frequency related to the molecular transition frequency, and converges to the static result for large times.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure