Quantum rotations in natural methane-clathrates from the Pacific sea-floor

We report inelastic neutron scattering experiments from natural methane hydrates sampled from the Pacific sea-floor during an expedition of the research ship SONNE. The experiments verify directly the content of methane by measuring the rotational spectrum of the CH 4 molecules. The existence of almost free rotational levels excludes off-center positions of the molecules in the cages. In addition we could assign the observed peaks in the energy regime up to 5 meV to rotational excitations only. The observed relative sharp excitations prove a surprisingly good crystallinity of the geological sample. The finite width is attributed to frozen-in hydrogen disorder of the ice cages.