Observation of high-energy vibrational overtones of molecules in solids: Local modes and intramolecular relaxations

In the last few years, the spectra of vibrational overtones (1) (at ~15-20,000 cm^-1) in large molecules have received considerable attention. The focus is on three problems dealing with the origin of relaxation at such high energies, the association of spectral band positions with the local modes (LM) in molecules, and the relevance of these spectra to possible selectivity in laser-induced chemistry.