Publication Date:
2011-08-17
Description:
Potential curves for the ground state and the first excited state of NaAr were determined. The van der Waals molecule NaAr was prepared by supersonic free jet expansion of a mixture of sodium, argon, and helium. The electronic transition from the ground state to the first excited state A2pi was excited by a tunable dye laser and the resulting fluorescence was studied. The dispersed fluorescence spectra show discrete and diffuse features, corresponding to transitions from excited vibrational levels of the A state to bound and unbound levels of the x state. The characteristic reflection structure in the bound-free spectra permits an unambiguous assignment of the vibrational numbering in the A state, and this assignment together with previously measured spectroscopic constants are used to calculate the potential curve of the A state. The discrete structure in the fluorescence spectra is used to determine the potential curve of the x state in the well region, and the repulsive part of the X curve is then deduced through trial-and-error simulation of the bound-free spectra.
Keywords:
ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
Type:
Journal of Chemical Physics; 71; Aug. 1
Format:
text
