Electronic fine structure transitions and rotational excitation in NO rare gas collisions

Abstract

The excitation of rotationally cold NO in the ( j=1/2,2Π1/2) state by collisions with different rare gases is studied for multiplet conserving and multiplet changing transitions. In the crossed beam experiment we use jet cooling to prepare the cold NO and LIF to measure the state distribution of the collisionally excited NO in the scattering center. The measured integral state to state cross sections are compared to theory. The calculations are performed in the CS approximation and based on recent advances in treating open shell molecules. For multiplet conserving transitions the agreement between experiment and theory is good. Although for the multiplet changing collisions the general structure is in qualitative agreement, the strength of the Ω=1/2→3/2 transitions is underestimated in the theory.