We report on the electronic emission spectra of free-base phthalocyanine doped into superfluid He4 droplets. The emission spectra of phthalocyanine obtained upon vibronic excitation show a doubling of all lines, absent in the gas phase [Fitch, Wharton, and Levy, J. Chem. Phys. 70, 2018 (1979)]. Similar features found for Mg-phthalocyanine in He4 droplets suggest that this doubling is due to the helium environment. Quantized relaxation states of the first helium layer surrounding the embedded molecule are discussed as likely causes of the doubling.

We show that a 450 fs nonresonant, moderately intense, linearly polarized laser pulse can induce field-free molecular axis alignment of methyliodide (CH(3)I) molecules dissolved in a helium nanodroplet. Time-resolved measurements reveal rotational dynamics much slower than that of isolated molecules and absence of the sharp transient alignment recurrences characteristic of gas phase molecules. Our results presage a range of new opportunities for exploring both molecular dynamics in a dissipative environment and the properties of He nanodroplets.

Intramolecular double-hydrogen tunneling in porphycene (see picture) is investigated. Low-temperature conditions are ensured by doping of single molecules into superfluid helium nanodroplets. The investigation of fluorescence excitation and dispersed emission spectra and the highly dissipative environment allows the observation of mode-selective tunneling splitting and reveals a purely concerted tunneling mechanism for all isotopic variants of porphycene.

Combined use of IR, Raman, neutron scattering and fluorescence measurements for porphycene isolated in helium nanodroplets, supersonic jet and cryogenic matrices, as well as for solid and liquid solutions, resulted in the assignments of almost all of 108 fundamental vibrations. The puzzling feature of porphycene is the apparent lack of the N-H stretching band in the IR spectrum, predicted to be the strongest of all bands by standard harmonic calculations. Theoretical modeling of the IR spectra, based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, reveals that the N-H stretching mode should appear as an extremely broad band in the 2250-3000 cm À1 region. Coupling of the N-H stretching vibration to other modes is discussed in the context of multidimensional character of intramolecular double hydrogen transfer in porphycene. The analysis can be generalized to other strongly hydrogen-bonded systems.

A pulsed valve connected to a closed-cycle cryostat was optimized for producing helium droplets. The pulsed droplet beam appeared with a bimodal size distribution. The leading part of the pulse consists of droplets suitable for doping with molecules. The average size of this part can be varied between 10(4) and 10(6) helium atoms, and the width of the distribution is smaller as compared to a continuous-flow droplet source. The system has been tested in a single pulse mode and at repetition rates of up to 500 Hz with almost constant intensity. The droplet density was found to be increased by more than an order of magnitude as compared to a continuous-flow droplet source.

The spectroscopy of molecules doped into superfluid helium nanodroplets provides valuable information on the process of solvation in superfluid helium. In continuation of an earlier report on emission spectra of various phthalocyanines showing a splitting of all molecular transitions in the range of about 5-12 cm(-1), the emission spectra of tetracene, pentacene, and perylene in superfluid helium droplets are presented. The new spectra and the results obtained for the phthalocyanines are explained by an empirical model which accounts for the existence of different metastable configurations of a nonsuperfluid solvation layer around the guest molecule.

Experimental and theoretical investigations of the spectroscopy of molecules in superfluid helium droplets provide evidence for the key role of the first helium layer surrounding the dopant molecule in determining the molecule's spectroscopic features. Recent investigations of emission spectra of phthalocyanine in helium droplets revealed a doubling of all transitions. Herein, we present the emission spectra of Mg-phthalocyanine and of phthalocyanine-argon clusters in helium droplets, which confirm the splitting as a general effect of the helium environment. A scheme of levels is deduced from the emission spectra and attributed to quantized states of the first helium layer surrounding the dopant molecule.

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