New Vibrational Numbering and Potential Energy Curve for the 3(3)Pig Electronic State of the Li2 Molecule

An experimental study of the 3(3)Pig electronic state of 7Li2, using the Perturbation-Facilitated Optical-Optical Double Resonance (PFOODR) technique, was recently reported [A. Yiannopoulou et al., J. Chem. Phys. 103, 5898, (1995)]. However, due to the very small number of known 7Li2 A1Sigma+u approximately b3Piu window levels, only 13 ro-vibrational levels (spanning a range of vibrational levels designated upsilonx - 1 to upsilonx + 3 in that reference) could be observed. Dunham coefficients, based on the assignment upsilonx = 7, were found to fit the observed term values and give a qualitative fit to the intensities of the first six lines of the 3(3)Pig (upsilon = upsilonx, N = 11) --> b3Piu emission spectrum. However, due to the limited number of levels used in the fit, both the absolute vibrational numbering and the 3(3)Pig RKR potential curve obtained from the Dunham coefficients, must be considered to be uncertain. In the present work, we show that the previously reported 3(3)Pig RKR curve is unable to reproduce the experimental intensity distribution in the 7Li2 3(3)Pig (upsilonx = 7, N = 11) --> a3Sigma+u emission continuum. We report new experimental data for the 7Li2 3(3)Pig (upsilonx + 1, N = 11) --> a3Sigma+u bound-free continuum and discrete 3(3)Pig (upsilonx +/- 1, N = 11) --> b3Piu spectra obtained using the PFOODR experimental technique. We demonstrate that the correct vibrational numbering and an improved RKR potential curve can be obtained by analyzing the experimental term values in combination with all observed bound-free and discrete spectra. Finally, term values for four 6Li2 3(3)Pig ro-vibrational levels were obtained using PFOODR spectroscopy. The measured isotope shifts confirm the absolute vibrational numbering obtained from the present analysis. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.