TRANSITION-PROBABILITIES IN THE A(2)SIGMA(-X(2)PI(I) ELECTRONIC SYSTEM OF OH())

A complete set of experimental vibrational band transition probabiliti es, including recent measurements on v'=2 and 3, allows us to calculat e an empirical electronic transition moment, R-e(r), for the A (2)Sigm a(+) -X (2)Pi(i) system of OH, over the range of internuclear distance 0.70-1.70 Angstrom. A comparison with an ab initio moment confirms th at theoretical shape and validates its quantitative results, as the ca lculated R-e(r) is within experimental uncertainty of the present resu lt. The experimentally derived R-e(r) is used along with Rydberg-Klein -Rees (RKR) wave functions to calculate transition probabilities for a wide range of vibrational and rotational levels. The study is extende d to the isotope OD. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.