Abstract
In diatomic molecules formed by the group VI elements (e.g., O2, S2, SO) and by a combination of group V and group VII elements (e.g., NF, NCl, PCl), the spin-selection rule ΔS = 0 leads to highly metastable states, which can be useful for high-power laser systems. A particularly well-known case is the 1Δg state of oxygen molecule. Owing to spin and parity symmetry, its decay to the ground state 3Σg − is highly forbidden, with spontaneous decay rate 2.6 × 10−4 sec−1. This fact is used in oxygen–iodine lasers to store the energy in the 1Δg state of O2, which is then collisionally transferred to atomic iodine via the reaction O2(1Σg) + I(2P3/2) → O2(3Σg−) + I(2P1/2). Radiative emission takes place on the iodine through its decay back to 2P1/2, which is a magnetic-dipole-allowed transition with a spontaneous transition rate of 7.7 sec−1.
© 1984 Optical Society of America
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