Vibrational corrections to electric properties of weakly bound systems

The pure electronic and vibrational contributions to electric dipole moments, dipole polarizabilities, and first hyperpolarizabilities have been evaluated for the HF and H₂O dimers. The zero-point vibrational average corrections to dipole moments and dipole polarizabilities turn out to be relatively small. However, the corresponding contributions to the first hyperpolarizability are found to be of the same magnitude as the pure electronic values. The so-called pure vibrational corrections to the dipole polarizability and first hyperpolarizability of hydrogen bonded dimers are exceptionally large and indicate that the perturbation theory method used for their evaluation fails to account properly for the high mechanical and electric anharmonicities present in these systems. The analysis of different harmonic and anharmonic contributions to the pure vibrational correction to the first hyperpolarizability shows explicitly the importance of the low frequency intermolecular modes.