English

Structure and thermochemistry of K$_2$Rb, KRb$_2$ and K$_2$Rb$_2$

Chemical Physics 2012-01-09 v2 Atomic and Molecular Clusters

Abstract

The formation and interaction of ultracold polar molecules is a topic of active research. Understanding possible reaction paths and molecular combinations requires accurate studies of the fragment and product energetics. We have calculated accurate gradient optimized ground state structures and zero point corrected atomization energies for the trimers and tetramers formed by the reaction of KRb with KRb and corresponding isolated atoms. The K2{}_2Rb andKRb2{}_2 trimers are found to have global minima at the C2vC_{2v} configurationwith atomization energies of 6065 and 5931 cm1{}^{-1} while the tetramer is found to have two stable planar structures, of D2hD_{2h} and CsC_s symmetry, which have atomization energies of 11131 cm1{}^{-1} an 11133 cm1{}^{-1}, respectively. We have calculated the minimum energy reaction path for the reaction KRb+KRb to K2+_2+Rb2_2 and found it to be barrierless.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1003.4514,
  title  = {Structure and thermochemistry of K$_2$Rb, KRb$_2$ and K$_2$Rb$_2$},
  author = {Jason N. Byrd and John A. Montgomery and Robin Côté},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.4514},
  year   = {2012}
}