Ab initio interaction and spectral properties of CO+–He

In this contribution, ab initio methods have been used to study the open-shell CO⁺–He van der Waals (vdW) complex in both the ground and the first Π excited electronic state. Calculations were performed at the UCCSD(T) level of theory in the framework of the supermolecule approach using the cc-pVTZ basis set complemented with a set of standard bond functions in the middle of the vdW bond. Calculations predict a most-stable equilibrium conformation with β e=45°, R _e =2.85 Å and D _e =275 cm^?1 for the ground CO⁺(X²Σ)–He(¹S) state and β e=90°, R _e =2.70 Å and D _e =218 cm^?1 for the excited CO ⁺(A²Π)–He(¹S) state. The dipole moment μ and independent components of the field polarizability α of the CO ⁺–He vdW complex have been studied at the calculated equilibrium geometry of these states. The vertical excitation energies from the ground CO⁺(X ²Σ)–He(¹S) to the excited CO⁺(A²Π)–He (¹S) electronic state and corresponding shifts in the fluorescent spectrum with respect to the isolated CO⁺ molecule are also presented