| Summary: | A spectroscopic study of the Stark effect in the predissociating v⁺ = 0 Rydberg states of nitric oxide, (n=13-16) is reported. The states are excited by two-colour excitation via the A²Σ⁺, v=0, N=0 state in the presence of a field in the range 0-1125 Vcm⁻¹, and the excitation is observed by using (2+1) REMPI detection of nitrogen (²D) atoms formed by predissociation. The spectra recorded over a range of fields are compared with, and hsow excellent agreement with, multichannel quantum defect theory (MQDT) simulations of the absorption spectra applied in the bound state formalism of Sakimoto [J. Phys. B. 22, 2727 (1989)]. The spectroscopy demonstrates the possibility of producing N(²D) or O(³P) atoms with very narrow centre-of-mass frame speed distributions and arbitrarily selected speed.
|
|---|