A vacuum-ultraviolet laser pulsed field ionization-photoelectron study of sulfur monoxide (SO) and its cation (SO+)

Abstract

Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser pulsed field ionization-photoelectron (PFI-PE) spectroscopy has been applied to the study of the sulfur monoxide radical (SO) prepared by using a supersonically cooled radical beam source based on the 193 nm excimer laser photodissociation of SO2. The vibronic VUV-PFI-PE bands for the photoionization transitions SO+(X2Π1/2; v+ = 0) ← SO(X3Σ−; v = 0); and SO+(2Π3/2; v+ = 0) ← SO(X3Σ−; v = 0) have been recorded. On the basis of the semiempirical simulation of rotational branch contours observed in these PFI-PE bands, we have obtained highly precise ionization energies (IEs) of 83 034.2 ± 1.7 cm−1 (10.2949 ± 0.0002 eV) and 83 400.4 ± 1.7 cm−1 (10.3403 ± 0.0002 eV) for the formation of SO+(X2Π1/2; v+ = 0) and SO+(2Π3/2; v+ = 0), respectively. The present VUV-PFI-PE measurement has enabled the direct determination of the spin-orbit coupling constant (A0) for SO+(X2Π1/2,3/2) to be 365.36 ± 0.12 cm−1. We have also performed high-level ab initio quantum chemical calculations at the coupled-cluster level up to full quadruple excitations and complete basis set (CBS) extrapolation. The zero-point vibrational energy correction, the core-valence electronic correction, the spin-orbit coupling, and the high-level correction are included in the calculation. The IE[SO+(X2Π1/2,3/2)] and A0 predictions thus obtained are found to be in remarkable agreement with the experimental determinations.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 08, 2011
Source ID
10.1063/1.3575227

Entities

People

  • C. Y. Ng
  • Chow-shing Lam
  • Hailing Wang
  • Kai-chung Lau
  • Yuntao Xu

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • City University of Hong Kong
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • National Science Foundation
  • United States Department of Energy
  • University of California

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Quantum Chemistry

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Directed Energy - Lasers
  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flight
  • Microelectronics
  • Quantum Computing
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster