Coupled-channel study of the Rydberg-valence interaction in HBr.

We report an ab initio study of the low-lying valence and Rydberg states of HBr. The calculations are carried out employing the multireference single- and double-excitation configuration interaction method including the spin-orbit interaction. The first excited adiabatic potential of 1Σ+ symmetry presents two minima which correspond to the Rydberg E1Σ+ and valence V1Σ+ observed states. We calculate the vibrational levels of these two states using a coupled-channel treatment based on the two diabatic potentials deduced from the ab initio adiabatic potentials and the Rydberg-valence interaction. The chaotic energy separations between the observed levels are well reproduced in the calculations. We have also obtained for the first time theoretical data for numerous Rydberg states of HBr lying in the (66-79) × 103 cm-1 excitation energy interval. The calculated spectroscopic parameters are found to be in good agreement with experiment and provide a basis for future studies of radiative and non-radiative processes in the HBr molecule.

The vibrationally mediated photodissociation of Cl2.

The photodissociation of vibrationally excited Cl(2)(v = 1) has been investigated experimentally using the velocity mapped ion imaging technique. The experimental measurements presented here are compared with the results of time-dependent wavepacket calculations performed on a set of ab initio potential energy curves. The high level calculations allow prediction of all the dynamical information regarding the dissociation, including electronic polarization effects. Using a combination of theory and experiment it was found that there was negligible cooling of the vibrational degree of freedom of the parent molecule in the molecular beam. The results presented are compared with those following the photodissociation of Cl(2)(v = 0). Although the same electronic states are found to be important for Cl(2)(v = 1) as for Cl(2)(v = 0), significant differences were found regarding many of the observables. The overall level of agreement between theory and experiment was found to be reasonable and confirms previous assignments of the photodissociation mechanism.

A complete quantum mechanical study of chlorine photodissociation.

A fully quantum mechanical dynamical calculation on the photodissociation of molecular chlorine is presented. The magnitudes and phases of all the relevant photofragment T-matrices have been calculated, making this study the computational equivalent of a "complete experiment," where all the possible parameters defining an experiment have been determined. The results are used to simulate cross-sections and angular momentum polarization information which may be compared with experimental data. The calculations rigorously confirm the currently accepted mechanism for the UV photodissociation of Cl(2), in which the majority of the products exit on the C(1)Π(1u) state, with non-adiabatic couplings to the A(3)Π(1u) and several other Ω = 1 states, and a small contribution from the B(3)Π state present at longer wavelengths.

Electronic polarization effects in the photodissociation of Cl2.

Velocity mapped ion imaging and resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization time-of-flight methods have been used to investigate the photodissociation dynamics of the diatomic molecule Cl(2) following excitation to the first UV absorption band. The experimental results presented here are compared with high level time dependent wavepacket calculations performed on a set of ab initio potential energy curves [D. B. Kokh, A. B. Alekseyev, and R. J. Buenker, J. Chem. Phys. 120, 11549 (2004)]. The theoretical calculations provide the first determination of all dynamical information regarding the dissociation of a system of this complexity, including angular momentum polarization. Both low rank K = 1, 2 and high rank K = 3 electronic polarization are predicted to be important for dissociation into both asymptotic product channels and, in general, good agreement is found between the recent theory and the measurements made here, which include the first experimental determination of high rank K = 3 orientation.

Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Electronic States and Spectra of TeH and TeLi.

Gas-phase emission spectra of the hitherto unknown free radical TeLi have been measured in the NIR range with a Fourier-transform spectrometer. The emissions were observed from a fast flow system in which tellurium vapor in argon carrier gas was passed through a microwave discharge and mixed with lithium vapor in an observation tube. Two systems of blue-degraded bands were measured at high spectral resolution in the ranges 8000-9000 and 5700-6700 cm(-1) and vibrational and rotational analyses were performed. In order to aid in the analysis of the experimental data, a series of relativistic configuration interaction calculations has been carried out to obtain potential curves for the low-lying states of TeLi and the isovalent TeH and also electric dipole transition moments connecting them. As in the TeH system, the ground state of TeLi is found to be X(2)Pi(i), but with a remarkably smaller spin-orbit splitting. The TeLi calculations indicate a strongly bound A(2)Sigma(+) state, while in TeH the analogous state is computed to lie significantly higher at approximately 32 000 cm(-1), and it is strongly predissociated. Based on the theoretical analysis, the observed TeLi band systems are assigned to the transitions A(2)Sigma(+)(A1/2)-->X(1)(2)Pi(3/2)(X(1)3/2) and A(2)Sigma(+)(A1/2)-->X(2)(2)Pi(1/2)(X(2)1/2). Analysis of the spectra has yielded the molecular constants (in cm(-1)) X(1)(2)Pi(3/2):omega(e)=457.49(3), omega(e)x(e)=2.482(9), B(0)=0.408908(8); X(2)(2)Pi(1/2): T(e)=2353.44(3), omega(e)=456.28(4), omega(e)x(e)=2.635(8), B(0)=0.414954(8), p(0)=1.00637(4); A(2)Sigma(+): T(e)=8574.64(2), omega(e)=437.81(3), omega(e)x(e)=2.581(8), B(0)=0.423903(8), p(0)=-0.19915(2), where the numbers in parentheses are the standard deviations of the parameters. Comparison of the isovalent TeLi and TeH systems emphasizes that the difference in bonding character (ionic in TeLi vs covalent in TeH) is responsible for qualitative differences in the electronic spectra of these two molecules. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.