The radiative lifetime of metastable CO (a 3Π, v=0).

Authors :: Gilijamse, Joop J.
Hoekstra, Steven
Meek, Samuel A.
Metsälä, Markus
van de Meerakker, Sebastiaan Y. T.
Meijer, Gerard
Groenenboom, Gerrit C.
Source :: Journal of Chemical Physics; Dec2007, Vol. 127 Issue 22, p221102, 4p, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 2 Graphs
Publication Year :: 2007
Abstract: We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on the radiative lifetime of CO in the a <superscript>3</superscript>Π<subscript>1,2</subscript>, v=0 state. CO molecules in a beam are prepared in selected rotational levels of this metastable state, Stark-decelerated, and electrostatically trapped. From the phosphorescence decay in the trap, the radiative lifetime is measured to be 2.63±0.03 ms for the a <superscript>3</superscript>Π<subscript>1</subscript>, v=0, J=1 level. From the spin-orbit coupling between the a <superscript>3</superscript>Π and the A <superscript>1</superscript>Π states a 20% longer radiative lifetime of 3.16 ms is calculated for this level. It is concluded that coupling to other <superscript>1</superscript>Π states contributes to the observed phosphorescence rate of metastable CO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]