Crossed molecular beam studies on the interaction potential for F(2P)+Xe(1S)

Abstract

For the evaluation of the ground state XeF interaction potential, angular distributions of F atoms scattered off Xe were measured in crossed molecular beam experiments at collision energies of 2.11, 10.5, and 13.9 kcal/mole. F atoms, produced by thermal dissociation of F₂ at 700 °C in a supersonic expansion using rare gas carriers, contain ∼78% F (²P_3/2) ground state and ∼22% F (²P_1/2) spin–orbit excited state. Consequently, three electronic states X1/2, I3/2 emerging from the ²P_3/2 +¹S₀ asymptote, and II 1/2 from the ²P_1/2+¹S₀ asymptote are involved in the scattering. A simple elastic approximation, neglecting interstate coupling, is used for the calculation of differential scattering cross sections in the evaluation of interaction potentials. Experimental results are found corroborating the spectroscopically derived potential of Tellinghuisen et al. (ε=3.359 kcal/mole, r_m=2.293Å) for V_X1/2(r), and the conclusion that V_I3/2(r) and V_II1/2(r) are in close resemblance to the ground state Ne+Xe interaction potential.