Ground and excited states of Ne2 and Ne2+. II. Spectroscopic properties and radiative lifetimes

Using the wavefunctions and potential curves for Ne₂ and ${\mathrm{Ne}}_2^{+}$ and the semiempirical model of molecular spin‐orbit coupling discussed in the preceding paper, spectroscopic analyses and lifetime calculations have been carried out. The calculation of lifetimes for excited states of Ne₂ allows for both bound‐bound and bound‐free transitions. Since the Franck‐Condon overlaps between the ground and excited bound states are generally small, bound‐free transitions dominate. The lifetimes determined for the ground vibrational states of the 1_u(³P₂), $0_u^{+}{(}^3{P}_1)$ , and $0_u^{+}{(}^1{P}_1)$ states of Ne₂ are 11.9 μs, 2.8 ns, and 1.2 ns, respectively. However, it should be noted that some transition moments show a large variation as a function of internuclear distance, and consequently the lifetimes of different vibration levels of the same electronic state may differ significantly.