PREDISSOCIATION OF RYDBERG STATES OF CO INVESTIGATED BY THE DETECTION OF $C(^{3}P_{j})$ FRAGMENT

Abstract

Carbon atom generation following the predissociation of Rydberg states of CO has been $investigated^{a}$. The Rydberg states of CO were prepared by tow-color double resonant excitation through the $3daB^{1}\Sigma^{+}$ state and the atomic carbon fragment was detected by resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization. The $4s\sim 6s(v-0), 5s(v=1), 4p\sim 5p(v=0), 3dx(v=0,1), 4d\sigma(v=0), 5d\sigma(v=0), 4f\sim 5f(v=0)$ Rydberg states and the $W^{1}\Pi(v=2,3)$ state were found to generate $P$ carbon atom. Mechanism of the predissociation of these high Rydberg states will be discussed based on the atomic carbon fragment yield measurement and on Doppler line shape measurement.