Predissociation and pooling effects in the laser-induced fluorescence spectrum of the HgZn excimer

Abstract
During a pump-and-probe spectroscopic study of the HgZn excimer, it was found that probing the Hg-Zn vapor cell with laser light in the 4200–4500-Å range resulted in the intense emission of Hg 4916-Å atomic fluorescence arising from the 8 1 S0→6 1 P1 transition. This observation is ascribed to the predissociation of the HgZn F1 state through a curve crossing with the repulsive D0 state, followed by pooling collisions of the resulting Hg 6 3P atoms, leading to the population of the 8 1 S0 state. This interpretation is corroborated by the results of spectroscopic and time-evolution experiments.