Group-12 vdW dimers in free-jet supersonic beams: The legacy of Eugeniusz Czuchaj continues

Laser induced excitation and dispersed fluorescence spectra of group-12 metal homoatomic dimers (Zn₂, Cd₂, Hg₂) recorded at a number of ultraviolet transitions provided information about interatomic potentials of the ground and lower-lying excited electron energy states of the dimers. The experimental studies were associated with calculations performed by Eugeniusz Czuchaj that were related to interatomic potentials as well as dipole moments for transitions between the ground and the excited states of the dimers. In experiments the dimers were produced in free-jet supersonic beams and were excited in a vacuum chamber with dye-laser beams. Isotopically resolved vibrational transitions in low-resolution excitation spectra and high-resolution rotational profiles of several vibrational components as well as Condon internal diffraction patterns in dispersed fluorescence spectra were recorded. Complex analyses of the spectra yielded information about the ground- and excited-state potential bond lengths, well depths as well as shapes of the investigated potentials in limited regions of internuclear separations. The determined potential energy curves were compared with results of Czuchaj providing conclusions related to the accuracy of calculations and/or experiments as well as giving the experimentalist information about planning experimental studies of molecular potentials of the group-12 dimers.