The 480 nm system of Cs2 studied in a very cold molecular beam: Direct observation of a new E' and the ion-pair states

Alkali metal dimers are very suitable for studying the perturbations and photodissociation dynamics of excited states, since they have many electronic states which absorb light from the near-infrared to ultraviolet region and some of the excited states predissociate to produce excited atoms.‘” The spectroscopy of alkali dimers has recently attracted renewed interest as they are possible candidates for tunable laser gain media.6-‘0 niques, such as Fourier transform (FT) spectroscopy and Doppler-free polarization spectroscopy, the assignment of the rovibronic lines becomes very difficult, particularly when strong perturbations exist.‘s7tg