Abstract
A home-built helium nanodroplet isolation spectrometer has been utilized by undergraduate students in course-based experiments to investigate the rovibrational dynamics of small molecules. Helium nanodroplets are a versatile medium that simplifies the spectroscopy of embedded molecules owing to their low temperature (0.4 K) and weakly interacting nature. In the infrared spectral region, this often results in a small number of rotationally resolved lines that can be observed and analyzed within several lab periods. We demonstrate the advantages of using this well-established technique in an upper-level undergraduate chemistry course for which the laser spectroscopy of helium solvated 13C-labelled formic acid was investigated for the first time.
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