15min:

JASON O. CLEVENGER, SERGEY I. PANOV AND ROBERT W. FIELD, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Recent experimental results from our continuing study of the Rydberg states of Calcium Monochloride will be summarized.^, At last year's Symposium, results were presented with regard to the predissociation of ^{2 +} states in the n* = 3-7 region. The potential energy curve of the ^{2 +} repulsive state responsible for these predissociations was quantitatively determined by direct observations of line broadening in the n*=6-7 region via REMPI and ion-dip techniques and qualitatively determined in the n*=3-5 region by OODR fluorescence detection. Unanswered questions propelled further REMPI studies of the low-n* region (n*=3-5), which is expected to be extensively predissociated by ^{2 +} and possibly ² repulsive states. Preliminary results indicate the presence of three unobserved

members of two known core-penetrating ^{2 +} Rydberg series (n* = 3.50, 3.77, 4.50) as well as the resonant detection of predissociation by TOF measurements measuring the atomic Ca photofragment channel. Further experiments in this n* region should determine the potential energy curve of the ² repulsive state as well as several new members of the two known ² Rydberg series.