PREDISSOCIATION CHANNELS OF THE C 3-PI-G RYDBERG STATE OF O-2

A theoretical formulation is presented of the predissociation of vibrational levels of the C 3Πg Rydberg state of O 2 in terms of an inhomogeneous driven equation which takes account of couplings between the Rydberg state and the lowest two 3Π g valence states and the coupling between the valence states. The branching ratios for decay to the end products O(3P) + O( 1D) and O(3P) + O(3P) are obtained and it is found that by a suitable choice of potential energy curves and coupling interactions agreement can be obtained with the experimental data. Utility of the Landau-Zener model is investigated and it is shown to be highly successful in describing the decay paths of the low-lying vibrational levels but it fails for the high-lying levels because of the occurrence of quantal interference between the channels. It is demonstrated that because of flux conservation the total width of the Rydberg vibrational state is independent of the coupling between the valence states. © 1990 American Institute of Physics.