			15min:

THE SPECTROSCOPY STUDY OF UF AND UF⁺.

J. H. BARTLETT, I. O. ANTONOV, M. C. HEAVEN, Department of Chemistry, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.

Uranium metal has been laser ablated in a pulsed-jet expansion of 0.1% SF₆ in He to generate the fluoride. Spectroscopic data are obtained using the laser-induced fluorescence and resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization techniques for gas-phase UF for the first time. The pulsed-field ionization zero electron kinetic energy (PFI-ZEKE) technique is used to study the low-lying states of UF⁺. The ionization potential from PFI-ZEKE for UF is found to be D_e = 51137 cm^-1. Omega states up to \frac132 and vibrational states v⁺ = 0-4 are observed in the REMPI and PFI-ZEKE spectra. Assignments of the electronically excited states are based on measured Omega values and high-level ab initio calculations.