Electronic absorption spectra of metastable dimers and trimers in optically excited mercury vapour. The carrier of the green emission

Abstract

Electronic absorption spectra of metastable dimers and trimers have been discovered in the 2300–6000 A range, in the flash photolysis of mercury vapour. The strong dimer systems are due to the O g ± first excited states, and exhibit extensive vibrational structure. Higher excited states of the dimer have also been detected in absorption, which have an intermediate role in the stepwise, collisional relaxation of the initially formed 1 u ( 3P 1) state. The trimer bands are diffuse.