COL 9(12), 120201(2011) CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS December 10, 2011
Analytical potential energy function and spectroscopy
parameters for B
1
Π state of KH
Jingjuan Liang (ùùùµµµïïï)
1
, Chuanlu Yang (DDD´´´)
2∗
, Lizhi Wang (ááá)
1,2
, and Qinggang Zhang ( ÜÜÜfff)
1
1
College of Physics and Electronics, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
2
Scho ol of Physics, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China
∗
Corresp onding author: yangchuanlu@263.net
Received June 17, 2011; accepted August 8, 2011; posted online October 18, 2011
Multi-reference configuration interaction is used to produce potential energy curves (PECs) for the excited
B
1
Π state of KH molecule. To investigate the correlation effect of core-valence electrons, five schemes are
employed which include the different correlated electrons and different active spaces. The PECs are fitted
into analytical potential energy functions (APEFs). The spectroscopic parameters, ro-vibrational levels,
and transition frequencies are determined based on the APEFs and compared with available experimental
and theoretical data. The molecular properties for B
1
Π obtained in this letter, which are better than
those available in literature, can be reproduced with calculations using the suitable correlated electrons
and active space of orbitals.
OCIS codes: 020.2070, 300.6390.
doi: 10.3788/COL201109.120201.
Potassium hydrides have been studied extensively
through experimental measurements and theoretical
research. Yang et al.
[1]
showed isotopically combined
spectroscopic constants obtained by Rydeberg-Klein-Ree
(RKR) potential energy curves (PECs) up to ν
00
= 4 and
ν
00
= 26 for the X
1
Σ
+
and A
1
Σ
+
states. Giroud et al.
calculated the X
1
Σ
+
RKR potential curve for KH to ν
00
=
14
[2]
. Hussein et al. extended the RKR potential curve
of the X
1
Σ
+
state to ν = 23
[3]
. Zemke et al. constructed
a potential energy curve for the ground state of KH
and determined that D
e
=14 772.7±0.6 cm
−1[4]
. Jeung et
al. proposed the perturbative treatment of core-valence
correlation effects. Results show that the valence cor-
relation slightly diminishes the core-valence correlation
which plays a very important role in the spectroscopy
of KH for the ground state
[5]
. To test the iterative
difference dedicated configuration interaction metho d,
Garc´ıa et al. calculated the three lowest Σ
+
potential
curves of KH at the level of CAS-MP2 and obtained
the spectroscopic parameters within 0.1 eV which differs
with the experimental values
[6]
. Lee et al. calculated the
1
Σ
+
and
3
Σ
+
states of KH which were dissociated into
the 4s-6p states of K at the level of the configuration
interactions and found that most of states show the un-
dulating potential curves
[7]
. Khelifi et al. performed ab
initio adiabatic and diabatic studies of the KH molecular
for all the states below the ionic limit [i.e., K(4s, 4p, 5s,
3d, 5p, 4d, 6s, and 4f)+H(1s)] in
1
Σ
+
and
3
Σ
+
symme-
tries at the level of full valence CI approaches
[8]
. They
presented the spectroscopic constants for the states and
obtained seven vibrational levels of B
1
Π.
In contrast to the intense interest in Σ
+
states, rela-
tively minimal attention has been accorded on B
1
Π state.
Recently, Lee et al. observed the B
1
Π excited state for
the first time
[9]
and obtained several ro-vibrational lev-
els and spectroscopic constants which could be used as a
reference standard for theoretical calculation. The theo-
retical results in literature clearly deviate from the new
experimental values. This implies that there is still space
to perform high-level calculations for the state. Thus,
in this letter, PECs for the B
1
Π state are calculated
using multi-reference configuration-interaction method
(MRCI)
[10,11]
and large basis set. The large active space
effect of core-valence correlation is emphasized. The
PECs are fitted to the analytical potential energy func-
tions (APEFs) for further analysis. The quality of the
APEFs is evaluated by comparing the vibrational levels
and the spectroscopic properties determined based on
them with the available experimental values.
The PECs of B
1
Π of KH are calculated with the inter-
nal contracted MRCI method. This is preceded by multi-
configuration self-consistent-field calculations
[12,13]
us-
ing C
2v
symmetry. The basis sets ECP10MDF
[14]
for K,
which means that the electrons of 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
are described
with pseudopotential, and the electrons of 3s
2
3p
6
4s
1
are
described with basis sets (11s11p5d3f). For H, aug-cc-
pVQZ basis set is used
[15]
.
To obtain high accurate interaction energy, three cor-
relation schemes are performed for K. The first scheme
includes the core electrons 3s
2
3p
6
. The second includes
the core electrons 3p
6
, and the third includes only the va-
lence 4s
1
. Two different sets of active spaces (including
3d orbitals) are used. To show the calculation schemes
clearly, we have listed the options for the two sets in
Table 1. All calculations are performed using the MOL-
PRO 2009.1 program package
[16]
.
Each PEC includes 200 ab initio points with inter-
nuclear distances from 0.12 to 1.115 nm and a step of
0.005 nm. The PECs are subsequently fitted into the
APEFs in the form of Murrell-Sorbie (MS) potential
energy function
[17]
. The general MS function, formula-
tions of the ro ot mean square (RMS) error, and spec-
troscopic parameters, such as the equilibrium rotational
constant (B
e
), are the harmonic and anharmonic con-
stants (ω
e
and ω
e
χ
e
) and the vibration-rotation coupling
constant (α
e
) that can be found in previous works
[18−26]
.
The vibrational levels are obtained by solving the radial
Schr¨odinger equation for the bound and quasibound lev-
els. The calculations are realized using the Le Roy’s level
1671-7694/2011/120201(4) 120201-1
c
° 2011 Chinese Optics Letters