Observation of selectively excited continuous vacuum ultraviolet emission in molecular hydrogen

Vacuum ultraviolet continuous emission from selectively excited vibrational levels of the $B{}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}\Sigma _u^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$ state of molecular hydrogen into the dissociation continuum of the electronic ground state has been observed. The intensity distribution in the continuous spectra measured quantitatively proves the theory of Dalgarno, Herzberg, and Stephens. The new radiative dissociation process makes tunable vacuum ultraviolet laser action in molecular hydrogen appear feasible.