Fourier transform spectroscopy of VO: Rotational structure in the A4Π-X4Σ- system near 10 500 Å

Abstract

The A 4Π-X 4Σ - electronic transition of VO in the near infrared was recorded at Doppler-limited resolution by Fourier transform spectroscopy, and rotational analyses performed for the (0, 0) band at 1.05 μm and the (0, 1) band at 1.18 μm. The A 4Π state is found to have comparatively small spin-orbit coupling (A = 35.19 cm -1) so that is is almost completely uncoupled to case (b) at the highest N values observed, near N = 90. The hyperfine structure due to the 51V nucleus (I = 7 2) is prominent in the 4Π 5 2-X 4Σ - subband, and in many of the spin satellite branches; at high N values, where only main branches (ΔN = ΔJ) occur, the lines are sharp, indicating that the hyperfine b parameter (the coefficient of I·S in the magnetic hyperfine Hamiltonian) is the same in the A 4Π and X 4Σ - states. The electron configuration of the A 4Π state is therefore (4sσ) 1(3dδ) 1(4pπ) 1. © 1982.