Photoassociation spectroscopy of long range molecular states
87Rb. Lu-Fano analysis and improved Le Roy-Bernstein
Recently, the method of Lu-Fano plots was extended to potentials with general ${R}^{\ensuremath{-}n}$ asymptotic behavior. The aim of this paper is to discuss the efficiency of this method for the interpretation of experimental vibrational spectra of long-range diatomic molecules when two channels are coupled. A Lu-Fano analysis is implemented on experimental data for the
Cs20u+(6S+6P1/2,3/2) photoassociation spectra below the
6S+P1/2 and
6S+P3/2 dissociation limits. The parameters are fitted on level energies and predissociation widths, giving information about the asymptotic coefficients
C3 for both channels and about a coupling parameter which determines the variation of predissociation widths as a function of detuning. This parameter can be extrapolated above the
6S+P3/2 threshold to yield the fine-structure transition cross section between the two channels. The probability for such a transition in a model where hyperfine structure effects are neglected is found to be 0.54.