Excited states in the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect

Abstract

A study is made of the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect for the case of a doubly degenerate electronic state coupled to one pair of degenerate vibrational coordinates. Wave functions are computed electronically for boundary conditions appropriate to a study of upper-branch motion in a crystal containing an impurity or other imperfection, in the limit of vanishing harmonic potential. Plots of upper-branch life-time vs. energy show resonances which progressively gain strength with increasing angular momentum. The computed spectrum of resonant levels is like one previously estimated but with significant corrections for small angular momentum and large radial quantum number. The computed lifetimes are markedly smaller than those estimated previously.