Knowledge Bank

The electronic spectroscopy of the cobalt monofluoride molecule has been studied using a pulsed molecular beam apparatus. The molecules were produced by chemical reaction of laser-ablated cobalt atoms in a pulsed helium expansion seeded with $SF6$. Low resolution $(\sim 0.05cm-1bandwidth)$ results for this molecule have recently been $published1$ and we now report on our first high-resolution $(\sim 0.006cm-1FWHM)$ findings. Two bands were probed at sub-Doppler resolution using a single mode dye laser. Hyperfine structure arising from the cobalt nuclear spin, $I=7/2$, was well resolved. The most intense band, centered at 529 nm, furnished about 40 measurable P, Q, and R lines yielding both $\Delta F=\Delta J$ and $\Delta F\ne \Delta J$ hyperfine transitions. Unfortunately, the second band accessible with our cw dye laser was too weak to allow the hyperfine transitions to be measured. A non-linear least-squares fit of some 500 hyperfine lines from the 529 nm band furnished effective $T0,B$, and D values for the upper $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">3</mrow>}\Phi$ state and an effective B value for the lower $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">3</mrow>}\Phi$ state, as well as a hyperfine `h' parameter for each state. We will also report on calibrated low-resolution measurements of several other electronic transitions in the region 450 to 500 nm.