OH lifetime measurements of several K levels in the v′ = 1 manifold of the A 2Σ + electronic state: Excitation via tunable UV laser

Abstract

Reported are OH lifetime measurements of several different K′ levels in the v′ = 1 manifold of the A 2Σ + electronic state. These measurements are the first to be reported using an excitation source which populated only single K′ levels in the v′ = 1 manifold. The excitation source in this case consisted of a frequency doubled tunable dye laser with a 0.25 Å line width at ≈ 2825 Å. The dye laser itself was driven by a Q-switched frequency doubled neodymium glass laser, having a nominal output energy of 250 mJ per pulse. The average lifetime found for the K′ levels, 0, 1, 2, and 4 was 687 ± 24 ns. When corrected for quenching by H 2 and Ar, the average value becomes 765 ± 34 ns.