Abstract

Spectroscopic studies of weakly bound van der Waals complexes have proven to be a powerful means to derive information on the attractive well regions of intermolecular potentials. Many experiments probe the ground vibrational state of the complex, thereby characterizing the intermolecular potential in the vicinity of the potential minimum. A more global picture of the intermolecular potential can be obtained by accessing excited intermolecular vibrations that sample regions of the potential that fie far from the equilibrium position. Recently, this laboratory has used stimulated emission pumping to access the excited intermolecular stretching and bending vibrations supported by the OH (X²π)+Ar(¹S₀) potential energy surface. Virtually all of the bound states of the OH-Ar complex have been identified, from the zero-point level to the dissociation limit.

© 1992 Optical Society of America