15min:

JEFFREY J. KAY, DANIEL S. BYUN, JONATHAN R. BARCHI AND ROBERT W. FIELD, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.

The use of a double-resonance laser excitation scheme and proper choice of intermediate electronic state has enabled the observation of high orbital angular momentum states of calcium monofluoride with \ell \>= 3 and one or two quanta of core vibrational excitation. These states undergo vibrational autoionization by v⁺ = 1 and v⁺ = 1 processes. The structure of these states and their observed rates of autoionization are compared with the predictions of the long-range force model of core-nonpenetrating states.