Detection and analysis of three highly excited vibrational bands of 16O3 by CW-CRDS near the dissociation threshold

The present contribution is devoted to the analysis of three extremely weak A-type bands of O-16(3) recorded near 7686, 7739 and 7860 cm(-1) i.e. only a few % below the dissociation limit, D-0, at about 8560 cm(-1). They correspond to the most excited vibration-rotation states of ozone observed so far via high-resolution absorption spectroscopy. They were detected by high sensitivity CW-cavity ring down spectroscopy with a typical noise equivalent absorption, alpha(min), on the order of 2 x 10(-10) cm(-1) and modelled using the effective operator approach. The derived band centres and rotational constants show a very good agreement with recent theoretical predictions based on a new ab initio potential energy surface. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.