Evidence for cooperative vibrational relaxation of the NH-, OH-, and OD-stretching modes in hydrogen-bonded liquids using infrared pump-probe spectroscopy.

Vibrational energy relaxation of the NH-, OH-, and OD-stretching modes in hydrogen-bonded liquids has been investigated by means of infrared pump-probe spectroscopy. The relaxation rates have been determined both in neat liquids and in isotopic mixtures with systematically varied isotope fractions. In all liquids, the vibrational relaxation rate increases as the isotope fraction is increased and reaches a maximum in the neat liquid. The dependence of the relaxation rate on the isotope fraction suggests a relaxation channel in which the vibrational energy is partitioned between accepting modes of two neighboring molecules.