Electronic states and spectra of BiTe

NIR/VIS emission spectra of the bismuth telluride radical, BiTe, were measured in the 3600-20 000 cm(-1) region with a Fourier-transform spectrometer. BiTe was produced by reaction of bismuth and tellurium vapors and excited by energy transfer from metastable oxygen O-2(a(1)Delta(g)) in a fast-flow system. The spectrum of BiTe was found to be markedly different from those of the previously studied BiO, BiS and BiSe radicals. The A(2)(4)Pi(1/2) -> X-1(2)Pi(1/2) transition which forms the most prominent and extended band system in these molecules was not observed for BiTe, and the X-2(2)Pi(3/2) -> X-1(2)Pi(1/2) fine structure transition shows up with a different structure and at much lower wavenumbers than in the spectra of the lighter bismuth chalcogenides. The only common feature is the C-1(4)Sigma(-)(1/2) -> X-1(2)Pi(1/2) system which is found in the range 16 500-19 000 cm(-1) similar to the three other molecules. Besides the X-2 -> X-1 and C-1 -> X-1 systems, seven other transitions show up by short Delta v = 0 sequences only. With help of the data derived from the analyses of the X-2 -> X-1 and C-1 -> X-1 systems and theoretical predictions of electronic and vibrational energies and transition probabilities of the strongest transitions of BiTe by Lingott et al. (2004) [7] the spectra were assigned to the transitions C-1(4)Sigma(-)(1/2) -> X-2(2)Pi(3/2), (C1E1/2-)-E-4 -> A(2)(4)Pi(1/2), A(4)(4)Pi(1/2) -> A(2)(4)Pi(1/2), A(4)(4)Pi(1/2) -> X-2(2)Pi(3/2), B-1(2)Pi(1/2) -> A(2)(4)Pi(1/2), B-1(2)Pi(1/2) -> A(1)(4)Pi(3/2), and B-2(2)Pi(3/2) -> X-2(2)Pi(3/2). (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.