Abstract
Thirty rovibrational transitions of H3+ have been observed near 1.25 μm using a tunable diode laser and a positive column discharge. In addition to the H3+ transitions, over 200 transitions between Rydberg states of H2 were observed—these could be discriminated against by using a discharge dominated by He, which apparently collisionally quenches the Rydberg states of H2 without affecting H3+. Twenty-eight of the H3+ transitions have been assigned to the ν1+2ν22←0 band, and provide experimentally determined energy levels for most of the levels up to J=4 in the ν1+2ν22 state. The remaining two H3+ transitions have been assigned to the 2ν1+ν2←0 band. These bands represent a crucial test of ab initio calculations, as they reach higher vibrational levels of H3+ than any yet observed. We have compared our experimental results with recent variational calculations by several groups.
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