ENHANCEMENTS IN THE LIFETIMES OF NO RYDBERG STATES IN DC ELECTRIC-FIELDS - IMPLICATIONS FOR ZERO-ELECTRON-KINETIC-ENERGY PHOTOELECTRON-SPECTROSCOPY EXPERIMENTS

Lifetimes of NO p- and f-orbital Rydberg states (n=40-122) have been measured under near field-free conditions as well as in the presence of small dc electric fields. The field causes an increase in the observed lifetimes, which is attributed to Stark mixing of the predissociative p and f orbitals with high-l orbital angular momentum states. The results indicate that under the conditions existing in high-resolution zero-electron-kinetic-energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy experiments, the ZEKE Rydberg states are l mixed. © 1995 The American Physical Society.