THE SPIN-ORBIT SUBLEVELS OF RARE GAS AND MERCURY EXCIMERS

Author Institution: Stanford Research InstituteEmissions from the excimer molecules of the rare gases (such as $Xe^{*}_{2}$) and mercury ($Hg^{*}_{2}$) have been of interest in developing high power molecular lasers. The state structure of these molecules is complicated by the large spin-orbit interactions. Much information can be provided by semi-empirical calculation of the molecular spin-orbit splittings, assuming atomic values of the spin-orbit parameters. The results of such calculations will be presented. Specific results include estimated radiative lifetimes for the $^{3}\Sigma^{+}_{u}$ states of the rare gas excimers (140 $\pm$ 45 nsec for $Xe^{*}_{2}$)