Knowledge Bank

We have used tunable, coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation to excite NO in a supersonic molecular beam. The excitation laser is tunable between 140 nm and 170 nm, and in this range the (9,0) to (0,0) bands of the $B12\Delta -X2\Pi$ system can be excited. By using pulsed excitation of single ro-vibronic states of NO in a molecular beam, it is possible to unambiguously determine the collision-free excited state lifetimes for a wide range of NO excited states. We have studied Rydberg - Non-Rydberg interactions in the $B12\Delta$ state using this method, and as well have investigated the onset of predissociation in the $B12\Delta$ state.