Lifetimes of fine structure levels of metastable H/sub 2/ in the c /sup 3/Pi/sub u/ state

Journal Article · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979 · J. Chem. Phys.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6079837

Chiu, L C; Bhattacharyya, D K

Lifetimes of fine structure levels of the v=0 level of the metastable c /sup 3/Pi/sub u/ state of H/sub 2/ are calculated by considering both the forbidden predissociation and the forbidden radiative transition to the same dissociative b /sup 3/..sigma../sub u//sup +/ state as the competing decay processes. The decay rate W/sub p/ due to forbidden predissociation is calculated for the rotational level N=1 of ortho-H/sub 2/ and N=2 of para-H/sub 2/. The weak spin--orbit and spin--spin interactions are the perturbative interactions to mix the metastable c /sup 3/Pi/sub u/ state with the repulsive b /sup 3/..sigma../sub u//sup +/ state. For the fine structure levels J=N, the forbidden predissociative decay rate W/sub p/ calculated is approximately 14 times larger than the previously calculated radiative decay rate W/sub r/. The resulting lifetimes for these J=N levels (which are 0.12 msec for N=1 and 0.11 msec for N=2) are shorter than the detection limit of Johnson's time of flight experiment. For the fine structure levels J=N +- 1, W/sub p/ is approximately 1/3 of W/sub r/ (except for case J=N-1=0, where W/sub p/=0) and the resulting lifetimes vary from 1.3 to 1.4 msec. The lifetimes of non-metastable levels which predissociate via the strong ..lambda..-doubling (or orbit--rotation) interaction are also calculated. They are 1.36 x 10/sup -9/ sec for N=1 of para-H/sub 2/ and 4.52 x 10/sup -10/ sec for N=2 of ortho-H/sub 2/.

• Research Organization: Department of Chemistry, Howard University, Washington, D. C. 20059
• OSTI ID: 6079837
• Journal Information: J. Chem. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Chem. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 70:9; ISSN JCPSA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640302* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Atomic & Molecular Properties & Theory
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
DISSOCIATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
FINE STRUCTURE
FLUIDS
HYDROGEN
LIFETIME
METASTABLE STATES
NONMETALS
PREDISSOCIATION