Vibrational structures in the A 2E′′←X 2E′ system of the lithium trimer: high-resolution spectroscopy and ab initio calculations

With narrow-band pulsed and cw lasers several vibronic bands of the A←X system of Li3 have been measured using resonant two-photon ionization for detection. New ab initio calculations provide vibronic energies in close agreement with the measured band origins. Compared to former reports in the literature a reassignment of the electronic transition and the vibronic levels is necessary.