15min:

O. PIRALI AND D. W. TOKARYK, Department of Physics and Centre for Laser, Atomic, and Molecular Sciences, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.

The singlet and triplet electronic states of N₂ have been extensively studied, but the quintet manifold has been relatively unexplored. We developed an experimental set-up in order to record the high resolution optogalvanic absorption spectrum of the C''~⁵ _ui--A'~⁵ _g⁺ (Herman InfraRed) system of N₂ excited in a discharge through a supersonic jet. This very sensitive technique has allowed us to observe of all the spin orbit components of the C''~⁵ _ui state for the first time. A partial analysis of the spectra has been published, which provides the separation between the spin-orbit components F₁ and F₂ of the C''~⁵ _ui state. The experimental value has been confirmed using semi-empirical calculations based on the spin-orbit parameters of previously observed states of N₂ (see next presentation). In this talk, we will present the experimental set-up used for this study, the recent complete analysis of our spectra including all five spin-orbit components of the upper state, and a discussion about the values of the fitted parameters.