ISSN:
1089-7690
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
Using a tunable, narrow-bandwidth vacuum-ultraviolet source based on third-harmonic generation from excimer-pumped dye-laser radiation, the F 3Πu←X 3Σg−(1,0) photoabsorption cross sections of 16O2 and 18O2 have been recorded in high resolution. Rotational analyses have been performed and the resultant F(v=1) term values fitted to the 3Π Hamiltonian of Brown and Merer [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 74, 488 (1979)]. A large rotationless isotope effect is observed in the F(v=1) predissociation, wherein the Lorentzian linewidth component for 18O2 is a factor of ∼50 smaller than the corresponding 16O2 linewidth. This effect, a consequence of the nonadiabatic rotationless predissociation mechanism, is described using a coupled-channel treatment of the strongly Rydberg-valence-mixed 3Πu states. Significant J, e/f-parity, and sublevel dependencies observed in the isotopic F(v=1) rotational widths are found to derive from an indirect predissociation mechanism involving an accidental degeneracy with the E 3Σu−(v=3) level, itself strongly predissociated by 3Σu− Rydberg-valence interactions, together with L-uncoupling (rotational) interactions between the Rydberg components of the F and E states. Transitions into the E(v=3) level are observed directly for the first time, specifically in the 18O2 spectrum. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1436106
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