Calculated ground state potential surface and excitation energies for the copper trimer

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Abstract
The results of an SCF/SDCI treatment are presented for selected portions of the ground state potential energy surface for the Cu3 molecule. For equilateral triangle geometries (D3h) the lowest state is 2E’ arising from 4sa’214se’1. The 2E’ state exhibits strong Jahn–Teller distortion, leading to 2A1 (acute angle) and 2B2 (obtuse angle) minima in C2v symmetry. Here the 2B2 minimum is a true minimum on the surface while the 2A1 minimum is a saddle point or very shallow secondary minimum connecting adjacent 2B2 minima. This strong Jahn–Teller distortion is consistent with the observed ground state vibrational levels in the gas phase spectroscopic studies of Morse, Hopkins, Langridge‐Smith, and Smalley and in the matrix Raman studies of Moskovits. The 2B2 minimum is also consistent with the observed ESR spectrum of Cu3 in a matrix, which has been interpreted as an obtuse angle structure with most of the spin density on the end Cu atoms. A linear 2Σ+u state is found to be 0.26 eV higher. Two possible candidates have been found for the upper state in the spectrum of Morse et al. (i) a 3s Rydberg state of 2A1 symmetry and (ii) a 3d→4s state of 2E‘ symmetry. Both of these states are consistent with the observed selection rules. The 2E‘ state would be expected to be weakly Jahn–Teller distorted in agreement with the fit to the upper state levels by Morse et al. and by Thompson, Truhlar, and Mead.