Fine structure of the 4 f complexes of ArH and KrH revisited: Quantum defect theory used as a spectroscopic tool

The 4f, v = 0 manifolds of levels of ArH, ArD, and KrD observed by Dabrowsk i et al. [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 189, 110 (1998)] and Dabrowski and Sadovskii [ J. Chem. Phys. 107, 8874 (1997)] have been reanalyzed using multichannel qu antum defect theory. The nondiagonal (l-mixing) quantum defect matrices are partially extracted from the experimental data and are found to be in reas onable agreement with the quantum defects calculated theoretically by Junge n et al. [Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 355, 1481 (1997)]. The quantum defec t calculations reproduce the observed level fine structure in great detail including nonadiabatic rotational l-uncoupling and electronic l-mixing pert urbations. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)02620-3].