HIGH RESOLUTION LASER SPECTROSCOPY OF THE $[20.3]^{3}\Phi_{4}- X^{3}\Phi_{4}$ AND $[21.3]^{3}\Phi_{4} - X^{3}\Phi_{4}$ SYSTEMS OF COBALT MONOCHLORIDE.

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of New Brunswick; Department of Chemistry, University of British ColumbiaLow and high resolution spectra of cobalt monochloride have been observed in the $55 - 485 nm$ region using a laser ablation/molecular beam spectrometer. The CoCl molecules were produced by laser vaporization of a Co rod followed by reaction with $CCl_{4}$ inside a pulsed supersonic jet source. A number of bands were seen allowing vibrational assignments to be made to transitions between the ground state and two excited electronic states with 0-0 origins near 20680.5 and $21257.3 cm^{-1}$. The spectra of three vibrational bands, the 0-0 and 1-0 bands of the $[20.7]^{3}\Phi_{4} - X^{3}\Phi_{4}$ transition and the 0-0 band of the $[21.3]^{3}\Phi_{4} - {^{3}}\Phi_{4}$ transition, were recorded at high resolution with a Coherent 699-29 ring dye laser. A rotational and hyperfine analysis has been performed on these bands giving an accurate set of molecular constants for the ground and excited states. The assignment of a ${^{3}}\Phi$ state as the ground state is consistent with recent experimental and theoretical predictions for CoH and CoF