THE RADIATIVE LIFETIME OF THE $A^{2}\Delta$ STATE OF CH

Author Institution: Department of Physics, University of MissouriThe lifetime of rotational levels from $N"" = 5-21$ for the $\nu^{\prime} = 0$ and 1 vibrational levels of the $A^{2}\Delta$ state of CH are measured. The band head lifetime of the $\nu^{\prime} = 2$ level will also be reported. For the low lying rotational Levels for both the $\nu^{\prime} = 0$ and 1 levels the lifetime is around 500 ns. There may be a decrease in lifetime of the rotational levels of the $\nu^{\prime} = 1$ state for higher rotational quantum numbers. The band head lifetime for the $\nu^{\prime} = 2$ level is 333 ns