Search

The hydrogen bond represents an important interaction between molecules, and the dynamics of hydrogen bonds in water create an ever-present question associated with the process of chemical and biological reactions. In spite of numerous studies, the process remains poorly understood at the microscopic level because hydrogen-bond dynamics, such as bond rearrangements and hydrogen/proton transfer reactions, are extremely difficult to probe. Those studies have been carried out by means of spectroscopic methods where the signal stems from the ensemble of a system and the hydrogen-bond dynamics were inferred indirectly. This book addresses the direct imaging of hydrogen-bond dynamics within water-based model systems assembled on a metal surface, using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The dynamics of individual hydrogen bonds in water clusters, hydroxyl clusters, and water-hydroxyl complexes are investigated in conjunction with density functional theory. In these model systems, quantum dynamics of hydrogen bonds, such as tunneling and zero-point nuclear motion, are observed in real space. Most notably, hydrogen atom relay reactions, which are frequently invoked across many fields of chemistry, are visualized and controlled by STM. This work presents a means of studying hydrogen-bond dynamics at the single-molecule level, providing an important contribution to wide fields beyond surface chemistry.

For more than a century, studies of atomic hydrogen have been a rich source of scientific discoveries. These began with the Balmer series in 1885 and the early quantum theories of the atom, and later included the development of QED and the first successful gauge field theory. Today, hydrogen and its relatives continue to provide new fundamental information, as witnessed by the contributions to this book. The printed volume contains invited reviews on the spectroscopy of hydrogen, muonium, positronium, few-electron ions and exotic atoms, together with related topics such as frequency metrology and the determination of fundamental constants. The accompanying CD contains, in addition to these reviews, a further 40 contributed papers also presented at the conference'Hydrogen Atom 2'held in summer 2000. Finally, to facilitate a historical comparison, the CD also contains the proceedings of the first'Hydrogen Atom'conference of 1988. The book includes a foreword by Norman F. Ramsey.

After more than a century of study, the hydrogen atom still presents challenges and opportunities to theoretical as well as to experimental physicists. The discovery of the Lamb shift in the late nineteen forties, followed by the development of QED and the introduction of powerful new experimental techniques in the nineteen sixties and seventies, have preserved for hydrogen its central place in atomic physics. Part I of this book, a reprint of the work published in 1957, covers the period from the earliest days up to the late nineteen fifties. Part II, a collection of progress reports written by well-known specialists on hydrogen and hydrogen-like systems, presents the advances in theory and experiment that have occurred since that time.