Determining the Humidity-Dependent Ortho-to-Para Ratio of Water Vapor at Room Temperature Using Terahertz Spectroscopy

Abstract

The origin of the water spin isomers observed under various physico-chemical conditions is of great interest, including that of H2O molecules in the gas phase. Here, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) was used to study the humidity-dependent ortho-to- para (O/P) ratio of water vapor at room temperature. The relative contents of para and ortho molecules were obtained by fitting the absorption lines of water vapor showing the relationship between the spin isomer contents and humidity. Larger O/P ratios with values of ∼3.2 were observed at lower humidity (<20%) due to the stronger attractive forces of para molecules. The concentration of the ortho isomers then began to decrease at higher humidity (>20%) due to the preferential formation of dimers and clusters at increasing concentrations. Thus, the ratio gradually decreased with increasing humidity.