Interaction of an aluminum atom with a closed subshell metal atom: spectroscopic analysis of AIZn

Resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy has been employed to investigate diatomic AlZn produced by laser vaporization of a 1:2 Al:Zn alloy target disk in a supersonic expansion of helium. Several discrete transitions are reported in the energy range from 18 400 to 19 100 cm-?. Most of these are assigned as members of the B ?II.?x ?II system, although an isolated band has been observed and assigned as the 2-0 band of the A ?' =0.5?X ?II 1/2 system. A pair of strongly mixed levels are identified as resulting from a homogeneous spin-orbit perturbation between the A ?' =0.5, v' =3 and the B ?II1l2, v' = 1 levels, and the perturbation matrix element has been deduced to be 8.11 cm-? for 27 Al64Zn, 8.23 cm-? for 27 Al66Zn. The ground state has been unambiguously identified as a 2rrr state with a bond length of 2.6957?0.0004 ?. Comparisons to the results of the preceding article on the spectroscopy of AlCa are also provided, along with a discussion of the chemical bonding in AlZn in relation to AlCa, AlAr, and AIKr.