Scattering of vibrationally and electronically excited CO molecules from a LiF(100) surface

Experiments are performed in which vibrationally and electronically excited CO(a3II, v = 1) molecules are scattered from a LiF(100) surface. As there is originally no population in the vibrationless level of the metastable state, this experiment gives the unique possibility of probing the vibrationally inelastic channel in the scattering of vibrationally excited molecules. The vibrational deactivation probability can thus be accurately determined and is found to be below 10−3 for the system under study.