Spontaneous vibrational decay rate in the KF electronic ground state

Abstract

We have measured the spontaneous vibrational decay rates in the KF electronic ground state for v=2 → 1 and v=1 → 0 transitions in both the J=1 and the J=2 rotational states using a velocity selected molecular-beam technique. The four decay rates are self-consistent and reduce to a 1 → 0 decay rate of 2.6±0.4 s−1, which agrees with rates inferred from spectroscopic data.