PREDISSOCIATION OF RYDBERG STATES OF CO INVESTIGATED BY THE DETECTION OF THE C(P-3(J)) FRAGMENT

Carbon atom generation following the predissociation of Rydberg states of CO has been investigated. The Rydberg states of CO were prepared by two-color double resonant excitation through the 3s sigma B1 Sigma(+) state and the atomic carbon fragment was detected by resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization. The 4s-6s(upsilon = 0), 5s(upsilon = 1), 4p(upsilon = 0), 3dn(upsilon = 0, 1), 5d sigma(upsilon = 0), 4f-5f(upsilon = 0) Rydberg states and the W (1) Pi(upsilon = 2, 3) state were observed, and it was confirmed that all the states predissociate to generate the P-3 carbon atom. The distributions in the spin-orbit sublevels (J) of the P-3(J) carbon atoms were also investigated.