High-accuracy expressions for the rotational-vibrational energies of the O/sub 2/, N/sub 2/, NO and CO molecules

Summary form only given, as follows. Properties of rotationally and vibrationally excited diatomic molecules are of significant importance in studies of dissociation and rotation-vibration, vibration-vibration and vibration-translation transitions in high-temperature gases in material and plasma processing, light sources and environmental studies. Application of the Hamilton-Jacoby theory and the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rule to the rotating Morse oscillator yields analytical expressions for the rotational-vibrational energy levels of the O/sub 2/, N/sub 2/, NO and CO molecules in electronic ground states. The expressions give more realistic values of the moderately and highly excited rotational-vibrational levels than the corresponding levels obtained from the common truncated expansion solution of the Schrodinger equation for the rotating Morse oscillator.