Experimental benchmarking of relative potential energy minima internuclear distances with femtometer length accuracy

The two-dimensional photon-excitation photon-emission (PhexPhem) map of the archetypal H_{2} molecule, constructed from dispersed-fluorescence measurements after energy-scanning excitation by small-bandwidth photons, displays complete systems of its Condon diffraction bands. They originate from spon...

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Main Authors: Adrian Krone, Philipp Schmidt, Johannes Viehmann, Peter Baumgärtel, Dana Bloß, Niklas Golchert, Emilia Heikura, Catmarna Küstner-Wetekam, Lutz Marder, Yusaku Terao, Andreas Hans, Arno Ehresmann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025-04-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.023027
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Summary:The two-dimensional photon-excitation photon-emission (PhexPhem) map of the archetypal H_{2} molecule, constructed from dispersed-fluorescence measurements after energy-scanning excitation by small-bandwidth photons, displays complete systems of its Condon diffraction bands. They originate from spontaneous radiative dissociation of individual bound electronically excited rovibronic levels, one of the most relevant processes for the destruction of H_{2} in space. For the B-X system of electronic states, we show that specific measured spectral characteristics of individual bands are extremely sensitive to the difference ΔR of the internuclear distances, where the two potential energy curves each have their minimum. Using data from recorded H_{2}-PhexPhem maps, it is possible to experimentally validate the calculations of ΔR down to an accuracy of at least 50fm. This accuracy may be used as a sensitive experimental test to calculational accuracy. It is well feasible to improve the currently achieved experimental accuracy, for an even more accurate benchmark of advanced potential energy curve calculations.
ISSN:2643-1564