Isotopic Fingerprints of Proton-Mediated Dielectric Relaxation in Solid and Liquid Water

Physical Review Letters 2026 Open access

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Authors: Alexander Ryzhov, Pavel O. Kapralov, Mikhail A. Stolov, Viatcheslav Freger, Anton V. Andreev, Aleksandra Radenovic, Vasily Artemov
DOI: 10.1103/rh2v-4h9s
Cited by: 1
References: 36

Abstract

We report cross-validated measurements of the isotope effect on dielectric relaxation for four isotopologues of ice and water, including the 1-10^{5} Hz region, in which only sporadic and inconsistent measurements were previously available. In ice, the relaxation rates exhibit an activated temperature dependence with an isotope-independent activation energy. Across 248-273 K, the H_{2}O-to-D_{2}O relaxation rate ratio remains constant at 2.0±0.1. This scaling agrees with Kramers' theory in the high-friction limit if the moving mass is the proton or deuteron, indicating that dielectric relaxation is governed by a classic proton transfer over an energy barrier rather than molecular reorientation.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies Material Dynamics and Properties Chemical and Physical Studies

Publication details

Journal / source
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Volume
136
Issue
11
Pages
118002–118002
Publication date
25 February 2026
Language
EN