Potential Curves and R Dependence of Electronic Transition Moments from Molecular Continuum–Continuum Emission Spectra. I. Theory

Abstract

A procedure is developed for analyzing the oscillatory structure observed in the continuum–continuum emission of diatomic molecules when the upper state is attractive and the lower state repulsive. Given the potential curve of the lower state and the positions of the diffuse maxima and minima, the procedure uniquely determines the potential curve of the upper state. A simple semiclassical method is presented for deriving both the upper‐state potential and the $R$ dependence of the electronic transition moment from the measured relative intensity distribution. Criteria for the applicability of this method are presented and discussed.