Fluorescence and excitation spectra of HgCd were studied using pump-and-probe methods of laser spectroscopy with time resolution. A Hg-Cd vapor mixture, contained in a sealed quartz cell at 700 K, was irradiated by consecutive pump and probe dye-laser pulses. The pump radiation produced a popula-
%'e report what we believe to be the first observation of a laser-induced fluorescence band, excited by absorption from a low-lying state of the Hg3 excimer using a "pump-and-probe" method. A study of the fluorescence intensity as a function of the time separation between the "pump" and "probe" laser pulses provides clear evidence for the presence of both Hg3 and Hg2 molecules in the laser-excited mercury vapor. The fluorescence may be due to trimer emission or to dimer emission following dissociation of a trimer state.Although the existence of molecular mercury emission bands at 3350 and 4850 A has been known for over 50 years, they have, until recently, been attributed to the Hgi dimer, particularly since their persistence times at low
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