Laser spectroscopy of HgRG and Hg2 molecules in supersonic beams

Abstract

Fluorescence of HgHe, HgNe, HgAr, and Hg2 van der Waals molecules was excited in a pulsed expansion beam by pulsed radiation from a frequency-doubled dye laser. The vibrational structures in the excitation spectra resulting from dye-laser scans were registered with a transient digitizer. The HgRG spectra each consist of two vibrational progressions, one on the long-wavelength side and one on the short-wavelength side of 253.7 nm atomic Hg line. Standard vibrational analyses yielded the frequencies, anharmonicities and dissociation energies for the ground- and excited states of the molecules, which are compared with data reported elsewhere. Although there is general agreement with previous spectroscopic results, there are some discrepancies for the HgAr spectrum [1], and also for the Hg2, spectrum [2].