The Pluvinage method for alkali dimers. I. One- and three-configuration calculations for the ground states of Li2, Na2and K2

Abstract
A method is presented for computing the molecular properties of alkali dimers using correlated wavefunctions. The results of model potential calculations for the alkali-dimer cations are used, and a generalisation of the Pluvinage treatment for the two-electron problem is presented. Satisfactory results are obtained using three correlated configurations.