Electronic spectroscopy of NO-(Rg)x complexes (Rg=Ne,Ar) via the 4s and 3d Rydberg states

We have employed (2+1) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy to investigate the 3d and 4s Rydberg states of the NO molecule when bound to the surface of Rg(x) clusters (Rg=rare gas). We observe that the spectra of the NO-Ar-x species converge in appearance as x increases, and this is discussed in terms of two Rg atoms interacting with the NO+ core, with other Rg atoms being "outside" the Rydberg orbital. We show that the interaction of each of the Rg atoms with the NO is essentially independent for the NO-Rg(2) complexes: both by comparing our spectra for Rydberg states of NO-Rg and NO-Rg(2), and from the results of ab initio calculations on NO+-Rg and NO+-Rg(2). In addition, we discuss the disappearance of some electronic bands upon complexation in terms of Franck-Condon factors that are very sensitive to the angular coordinate. We relate our results to those of the bulk by comparing to the previously reported electronic spectroscopy of NO in both Rg matrices and He nanodroplets. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.