Spectra of Confined Atoms and Molecules

Abstract

The properties of spectra of atoms and molecules confined by an external potential are analyzed. The effects of spatial confinement are studied using quantum‐chemical models. The confinement of the system is described by an external one‐particle potential. Two‐electron atoms confined in a spherically symmetric harmonic oscillator potential are investigated in detail [1]. In this case the interplay between the effects of the confinement due to the Hooke’s law and due to the nuclear attraction forces are studied. The existence of a special case when the harmonic oscillator frequency ω and the nuclear charge Z are changed simultaneously so that the structure of the confined atom remains unchanged up to the second order of the perturbation theory, is demonstrated. Moreover, the structure and the spectral properties of the hydrogen molecule confined in a harmonic oscillator potential are studied [2]. The bond length and the vibronic transitions (the intensities and the number of lines) depend in a specific way on the strength of the confining potential. In particular, due to the confinement, the absorption and the emission vibronic bands are blue shifted.