† Corresponding author. E-mail:
‡ Corresponding author. E-mail:
Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11404180 and 11574114), the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province, China (Grant No. A2015010), the University Nursing Program for Young Scholars with Creative Talents in Heilongjiang Province, China (Grant No. UNPYSCT-2015095), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province, China (Grant No. 20150101003JC).
Lead oxide (PbO), which plays the key roles in a range of research fields, has received a great deal of attention. Owing to the large density of electronic states and heavy atom Pb including in PbO, the excited states of the molecule have not been well studied. In this work, high level multireference configuration interaction calculations on the low-lying states of PbO have been carried out by utilizing the relativistic effective core potential. The effects of the core-valence correlation correction, the Davidson modification, and the spin–orbital coupling on the electronic structure of the PbO molecule are estimated. The potential energy curves of 18 Λ-S states correlated to the lowest dissociation limit (Pb (3Pg) + O(3Pg)) are reported. The calculated spectroscopic parameters of the electronic states below 30000 cm−1, for instance, X1Σ+, 13Σ+, and 13Σ−, and their spin–orbit coupling interaction, are compared with the experimental results, and good agreements are derived. The dipole moments of the 18 Λ-S states are computed with the configuration interaction method, and the calculated dipole moments of X1Σ+ and 13Σ+ are consistent with the previous experimental results. The transition dipole moments from 11Π, 21Π, and 21Σ+ to X1Σ+ and other singlet excited states are estimated. The radiative lifetime of several low-lying vibrational levels of 11Π, 21Π, and 21Σ+ states are evaluated.
Over the last several decades, the lead oxide molecule (PbO) has received considerable attention of experimental and theoretical studies due to the extensive use in making glass.[1,2] The percentage of PbO in glass can affect the refractive index and the viscosity index of the glass, which can also influence the ability of glass absorbing x-rays. On the other hand, the chemiluminescence spectra of PbO are located in the ultraviolet and visible range, which have been observed in the chemical reaction of atomic Pb with O3 under single-collision conditions.[3,4] Hence, the electronic structures and transitional properties of low-lying states of PbO can help to understand the detailed reaction mechanisms.
The early experimental investigations mainly focused on the spectroscopic properties of the ground state X1Σ+, 13Σ+, 13Σ−, and 13Π. Horiai et al.[5] observed the vibration–rotation spectrum in the infrared region using a tunable laser spectrometer, and obtained the Dunham coefficients of X1Σ+. The infrared spectrum of X1Σ+ was photographed by Chertihin and Andrews[6] via chemical reactions of laser ablated Pb and O2, and the spectroscopic constant of X1Σ+ was evaluated. Knöckel et al.[7] used molecular-beam laser spectroscopy to observe the 13Σ+−X1Σ+ transition of PbO, and obtained the precise spectroscopic parameters of the 13Σ+ state. Later, Dorko et al.[8] photographed the chemiluminescence of PbO by using the reaction between lead vapor and the 1Δ excited state of O2. From the observed vibronic spectrum, they estimated the vibronic molecular constants of X1Σ+, 13Σ+, 13Σ−, 13Π, and 21Σ+. DeMille et al.,[9] Kawall et al.,[10] Hunter et al.,[11] and Leanhardt et al.[12] adopted a series of new approaches to investigate the molecular dipole moments (DM) and hyperfine constants of X1Σ+ and 13Σ+ states.
Along with the experimental works, a larger number of theoretical studies have been carried out to investigate the electronic structures of the low-lying states of PbO. Chertihin et al.[6] and Barandiara et al.[13] computed the geometry and vibrational frequency of X1Σ+ employing density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) and quasi-relativistic ab initio model potential method, respectively. Subsequently, Iliaš et al.[14] studied the electronic structure of X1Σ+ using a high-level coupled-cluster method with single, double, and noniterative triple excitations (CCSD(T)), and obtained the more accurate spectroscopic constant of X1Σ+. Kello et al.[15,16] and Petrov[17] calculated the DM of X1Σ+ using a relativistic high-level-correlated method and a semi-empirical approach, respectively. Navati[18] calculated the potential energy curves of X1Σ+ and 13Π1 using the Morse–Korwar–Navati (MKN) oscillator model. Using the configuration interaction method, Balasubramanian and Pitzer[4] systematically calculated the electronic structures of the 11 electronic states of PbO, applying the relativistic effective core potential. In their calculations, the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) interactions of the low-lying states were also taken into account.
Despite the great many experimental and theoretical works that have been performed over the last few decades, information about the low-lying states of PbO is still too limited. The previous experimental studies were mainly focused on the ground state X1Σ+, 13Σ+, 13Σ−, and 13Π, while the previous theoretical investigations were concentrated on X1Σ+ except Ref. [4]. Hence, our knowledge of the other excited states of PbO is still lacking. As illuminated in the literature of the isovalent molecules CS,[19] CSe,[20] and GeO,[21] the low-lying electronic states of PbO present a large density, which can lead to strong coupling interactions of these states. The strong coupling interactions cause more complicated electronic configurations of the excited states, making it a challenge to compute the electronic structure of these states.
In this work, we carry out high-level configuration interaction calculations on the low-lying states of PbO. On the basis of the calculated potential energy curves (PECs) of the low-lying states, the spectroscopic parameters of the bound states are fitted. The radiative lifetimes of several low-lying vibrational levels of 11Π, 21Π, and 21Σ+ are evaluated.
In the present study, the electronic structure calculations are performed with the Molpro2010[22] program designed by Werner et al. The symmetry group of PbO is C∞v; however, due to the limitation of the Molpro package, the calculations are done in the C2v subgroup. The relationships of the irreducible representations of C2v and C∞v are Σ+ = A1, Π = B1 + B2, Δ = A1 + A2, and Σ− = A2. The single-point energies of the low-lying states are calculated to construct the PECs, where the contracted aug-cc-pwCV5Z-PP[23] with relativistic effective core potential (RECP) ECP60MDF and aug-cc-pwCV5Z[24] basis sets are selected for atoms Pb and O, respectively. With the help of the Winger–Witmer principle, the relationship between 18 low-lying Λ-S states and the lowest dissociation limit is given by
In order to obtain the accurate structure of PbO, the energy eigenvalues of the electronic states at a set of internuclear distances are computed through the following three steps. First, the single-configuration wavefunction is calculated by the Hartree–Fock method. Second, the multi-configuration wavefunction is obtained by the state-averaged complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method.[25] Finally, by utilizing the CASSCF energies as the reference, the energy eigenvalues of the Λ-S states are computed with the internally contracted multireference configuration interaction approach (MRCI)[26] including Davison size-extensivity correction (+Q).[27] In the CASSCF and MRCI calculations, the active space is selected as 4A1, 2B1, and 2B2, which are correlated to Pb 6s6p and O 2s2p atomic orbitals. The 5 MOs correlating to the 5d atomic orbital of Pb are placed in the closed shell. That is, there are a total of 20 electrons of PbO taking into account in the electronic correlation calculations.
The SOC effect is taken into consideration through the state interaction method utilizing the full Breit–Pauli Hamilton (HBP)[28] operator. The spin–orbit part of the HBP operator can be written as
Based on the PECs of the bound and quasibound Λ-S and Ω states, the spectroscopic parameters, including equilibrium bond length Re, harmonic vibrational frequencies ωe, anharmonic vibrational frequencies ωeχe, balanced rotation constant Be are determined by the numerical solution of the one-dimensional nuclear Schrödinger equations utilizing LeRoy’s LEVEL[29] program.
The lowest 18 Λ-S electronic states of PbO, which are correlated to the dissociation limit (Pb(3Pg) + O(3Pg)), are calculated with the MRCI+Q method. The PECs of these Λ-S electronic states are plotted in Fig.
As shown in Table
The first excited state 13Σ+ originates from the open-shell configuration 6σ27σ28σ23π34π1 corresponding to the 3π → 4π one electron excitation. Our calculated Te is 18162 cm−1, as compared to the previous experimental result of Ω component average of 16118.5 cm−1. The overestimation of 2043.5 cm−1 most likely arises from the SOC effect missing in the calculation of the Λ-S state. With comparison to the averaged Ω-component of experimental results,[30,31] the deviations of the calculated ωe and ωexe are 60.27 cm−1 and 0.2986 cm−1, respectively. The equilibrium distance is calculated to be 2.1146 Å, which is reasonably consistent with the earlier experimental value of 2.16 Å[30] and the theoretical value of 2.23 Å.[4] For the other spectroscopic constants of the Λ-S 13Σ+ state, deviations from the experimental values are shown in Table
The following four excited states 13Δ, 13Σ−, 11Δ, and 11Σ− are mainly described by the electronic configuration 6σ27σ28σ23π34π1. For the four excited states, only the spectroscopic data of 13Σ− have been reported in the previous investigations. The Te, ωe, Be, and Re of the 13Σ− state are calculated to be 21812 cm−1, 519.0418 cm−1, 0.2498 cm−1, and 2.1321 Å, respectively, which are in good agreement with the previous experimental values of the Ω component average of 24665.25 cm−1, 503.5 cm−1, 0.2495 cm−1, and 2.1325 Å.[31] However, the computed ωexe of 13Σ− is 2.5928 cm−1, which is 0.6322 cm−1 smaller than the experimental value of Ω component average of 3.225 cm−1.[31]
The 13Π and 11Π states both mainly originate from the electronic configuration 6σ27σ28σ13π44π1. The Be and Re of 13Π are computed to be 0.2807 cm−1 and 2.0113 Å, respectively, being a little larger than the experimental results of 0.2586 cm−1 and 2.094 Å. While the calculated Te = 24422 cm−1, ωe = 585.1766 cm−1, and ωexe = 2.3595 cm−1 are evidently a departure from the experimental Te = 19894, ωe = 420 cm−1, and ωexe = 0.54 cm−1. The relatively large deviation of 13Π is most probably caused by the SOC between 13Π and other higher Λ-S electronic states. As for the 11Π state, our computed ωe and Be are 589.2317 cm−1 and 0.2768 cm−1, respectively, which are only 58.7317 cm−1 and 0.0057 cm−1 larger than the reported experimental values;[31] the values of Te, ωexe, and Re are computed to be 26996 cm−1, 2.6505 cm−1, and 2.0253 Å, respectively, which are in reasonable agreement with the previous experimental results of 30198.7 cm−1, 2.92 cm−1, and 2.046 Å.[31]
The permanent dipole moments (DM) of the 18 Λ-S states are also obtained in the MCRI calculations. The variations of DMs with bond lengths are plotted in Fig.
As is well known, the SOC interactions lead to the energy level splitting of the multiplet state. Especially, for the diatomic molecule containing a heavy atom, the SOC splitting of one multiplet state can reach a size comparable with the energy gap between two different electronic states. In the present study, the SOC is taken into account by perturbation theory using the full Breit–Pauli Hamilton (HBP) operator. In the SOC calculation, the electronic states X1Σ+, 13Σ+, and 13Σ− are simultaneously included. The three Λ-S states can generate five Ω states
The ground state
The SOC effect gives rise to the splitting of the triplet state 13Σ+, and two Ω states
Taking into account the SOC effect, the triplet state 13Σ− splits into two Ω states
The transition dipole moments (TDMs) of some transitions to the ground state X1Σ+ and several low-lying excited states are computed as a function of bond length R. The TDM curves of 11Π−X1Σ+, 21Π−X1Σ+, 21Σ+−X1Σ+, 21Σ+−11Π, 21Σ+−21Π, and 21Π−11Π transitions are mapped in Fig.
As depicted in Fig.
In summary, high-level MRCI+Q calculations on the 18 Λ-S states correlating to the lowest dissociation limitation of PbO have been carried out. The PECs of the low-lying Ω states
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