Test of quantum chemistry in vibrationally-hot hydrogen molecules

Abstract

Precision measurements are performed on highly excited vibrational quantum states of molecular hydrogen. The $v=12,J=0-3$ rovibrational levels of H${}_2$ ($X^1{\Sigma }_g^{+}$), lying only $2000$ cm${}^{-1}$ below the first dissociation limit, were populated by photodissociation of H${}_2$S and their level energies were accurately determined by two-photon Doppler-free spectroscopy. A comparison between the experimental results on $v=12$ level energies with the best \textit{ab initio} calculations shows good agreement, where the present experimental accuracy of $3.5\times 10^{-3}$ cm${}^{-1}$ is more precise than theory, hence providing a gateway to further test theoretical advances in this benchmark quantum system.

5 pages, 4 figures, and 2 tables

References in corpus (1)

• High-precision laser spectroscopy of the CO A${}^1\Pi$ - X${}^1{\Sigma }^{+}$ (2,0), (3,0) and (4,0) bands

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Rovibrational energy levels of the hydrogen molecule through nonadiabatic perturbation theory
• Nonadiabatic rotational states of the hydrogen molecule
• Photolysis production and spectroscopic investigation of the highest vibrational states in H${}_2$ (X${}^1{\Sigma }_g^{+}$ $v=13,14$)
• Nonrelativistic energy of tritium-containing hydrogen molecule isotopologues
• Precision measurement of quasi-bound resonances in H${}_2$ and the H + H scattering length
• Two-photon Doppler-free ultraviolet laser spectroscopy on sulphur atoms
• Spectroscopic study of the F${}^1{\Sigma }_g^{+}$ outer well state in H${}_2$, HD and D${}_2$
• Physics beyond the Standard Model from hydrogen spectroscopy