Properties of nearly one-electron molecules. II. Application to the Rydberg spectrum of CaF

The ab initio K matrix method described in the preceding paper (Part I) is applied to the Rydberg electronic structure of calcium monofluoride. The spectroscopic quantum defects for the (2)Sigma(+), (2)Pi, (2)Delta, and (2)Phi states of CaF are computed using the effective potential of Arif [M. Arif, Ch. Jungen, and A. L. Roche, J. Chem. Phys. 106, 4102 (1997)]. Satisfactory agreement with the experimental values is obtained. The eigenquantum defects obtained from the reaction matrix for the CaF++e(-) system are found to be strongly energy dependent. The analysis shows that the main features of the energy-dependent structure in the eigenphases are a consequence of a broad molecular shape resonance. Partial-l (orbital angular momentum) characters of two interacting collision eigenchannels vary rapidly as a function of increasing collision energy. This prominent variation leads to interference structure in the intensities for transitions into the ionization continuum, manifesting nodal points in the total ionization cross section in the continuum above the shape resonance. The usefulness of this structure in the ionization cross section as a direct probe of the l-character of the bound state is discussed. In addition, ab initio results for the photoelectron angular distribution and the anisotropy parameter are presented. These computed results are susceptible to direct experimental verification. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.