PHOTOIONIZATION SPECTROSCOPY OF Au-Ar

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of GeorgiaResonance enhanced photoionization is used to probe two electronic band systems of the new metal van der Walls complex Au-Ar. The two band systems are located near 270 nm and 245 nm. These systems correlate to the spin-orbit components ($^{2}P_{1/2} \leftarrow \;^{2}S$ and $^{2}P_{3/2} \leftarrow \;^{2}S$ respectively) of the $^{6}p\leftarrow 6s$ atomic transition. An extrapolation of the vibronic bands is used to obtain the ground state binding energy. $D_{o} = 18O \pm 30 cm^{-1}$, as well as lower limits for the excited state binding energies $[D_{0}(^{2}\Pi_{1/2}) \geq 355 cm^{-1}, D_{0}(^{2}\Pi_{1/2})\geq 815 cm^{-1}]$. The ionization potential is determined from the lowest observed line to be $\geq 9.208eV$. The properties of Au-Ar are compared to those of Cu-RG and Ag-RG complexes studied previously in our laboratory