High Resolution UV Studies of Free Radicals

The production of intense beams of free radicals has enabled us to perform high resolution spectroscopy on excited electronic states of these molecules by means of LIF detection. With narrow band UV radiation fine and hyperfine structures can be resolved yielding direct information about the electronic distribution inside the molecule. The resolution may be limited by a short lifetime of the excited state. From linewidth measurements rotationally dependent values for the natural lifetime can then be obtained.