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BEAU J. BARKER, IVAN O. ANTONOV, VLADIMIR E. BONDYBEY AND MICHAEL C. HEAVEN, Department of Chemistry, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
The HfF+ cation has been identified as a molecule with favorable properties for investigation of the dipole moment of the electron. The ion is predicted to have a 1
+ ground state, but the state of greatest interest is the low-lying 3
1 state, which correlates with Hf+(6s5d)F-. A high internal electric field may be generated when the
=1 state is polarized by a modest external field. In the present work, spectroscopic data for the ground and low-lying states HfF+ have been obtained using the technique of pulse field ionization - zero electron kinetic energy (PFI-ZEKE) spectroscopy. Sequential two-photon excitation was used, with the first photon set to excite a transition near 28593 cm-1. This previously unreported band was used as it is at slightly less than half of the ionization energy (IE), and therefore not subject to one-color, two-photon ionization. PFI-ZEKE spectra were recorded for the levels X1
+ (v=0-6), 3
1 (v=0-3), 3
2 (v=0-3), and 3
3 (v=0,1). Rotational resolution was achieved using single rotational line excitation of the intermediate state. The IE for HfF was found to be 59477 cm-1. Term energies and molecular constants for the ground and low-lying states of HfF+ will be reported.