Direct experimental evidence of the hyperfine predissociation of molecular iodine using a saturated absorption experiment

A saturated absorption technique using an actively stabilized C.W. dye laser has been used to study the hyperfine structure of some lines lying in the 9-3, 10-3, 11-3, 11-4, 12-3 bands of the B-X system of molecular iodine. The comparison of the different spectra shows that the intensities of the different hyperfine components of one line deviate from the 2F + 1 proportionality when 'v decreases towards the value 'v=6 where the potential curves of the ³Π⁺₀ and 1u states are crossing. The preliminary experimental results concerning the hyperfine component intensity variations versus the quantum numbers 'v, J and F give a direct qualitative support to the recently reported hyperfine predissociation in I₂.