THE LOW LYING STATES OF SAMARIUM OXIDE

Author Institution: Physics Department, University of New Brunswick, Box 4400; Physics Department, Holy Cross College; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe spectroscopy of SmO is being investigated as part of a continuing study into the properties and electronic structure of the rare earth oxides. By using laser induced fluorescence and combining the results of resolved fluorescence and high resolution excitation spectra with the sub-Doppler Zeeman patterns obtained in a magnetic field we have established an energy level scheme linking together eleven low lying electronic states and provided conclusive $\Omega$ assignments for most of the states. The ground state is determined to be a $\Omega = 0$ state. The results will be discussed in terms of detailed Ligand Field Theory calculations which have predicted the energies of all the low lying states. The analysis of large $\Omega$ doubling in the $\Omega = 1$ states will be explained in terms of the interaction with neighboring $\Omega = 0$ states. The results of this analysis serve as a very useful test of the calculated eigenfunctions for these states