The spectrum of CuO; study of the orange-red system by use of ¹⁸ O

Abstract

The spectrum of CuO has been studied throughout the visible region using a vacuum arc in ordinary oxygen and in 18 O. The orange-red bands are assigned to a 2 ∑- 2 II transition, a provisional vibrational analysis of band heads is given and molecular constants are evaluated. Previous published analyses are shown to be incorrect. Partial analyses of systems in the green and blue show that these have the same lower 2 II state, with a doublet separation of 272 cm -1 . The spectrum of CuO is discussed and compared with that of related molecules.