Exploring ultra-fast proton dynamics in water under a static electric field

We present an experimental investigation of the single-particle dynamics of hydrogenin liquid water and ice subject to static electric field using deep inelastic neutron scattering. Thenuclear mean kinetic energy, , of hydrogen in liquid water at room temperature does notshow sensible changes when an electric field of magnitude 105 V / m is turned on. On the contrary,the value of in ice at 263 K and subject to the same electric field is found to be substantiallylower than the reference value for ice Ih at the similar temperature of 271 K and without electricfield. This is true both if the electric field is kept on or not while the sample cools from 300 K to263 K. Concurrent diffraction measurements performed on ice subjected to an electric field showno sizeable structural changes with respect to the expected powder-averaged ice-Ih diffractionpattern.