Theory of the Stark Effect of the NO Molecule

Abstract
Since the NO molecule has a finite electronic angular momentum 2 along the molecular axis in its ground state, the Stark effect of this molecule is very large, the molecule being effectively a symmetric top molecule rather than a diatomic molecule. The calculation is made both for weak-field and strong-field cases. An experiment by Burrus and Graybeal has been done for weak fields and gives μ=0.158 Debye unit. The dielectric constant of this molecule is also discussed and it is shown that the ordinary Langevin-Debye formula can be used with the effective dipole moment μeff=0.971 μ.