High Field Stark Effects in CH and NH

Abstract

A LoSurdo discharge was used to apply electric fields of up to 290 kV/cm to a mixture of cyanogen and hydrogen, and to ammonia, permitting the observation of Stark effects in the optical spectra of the CH and NH molecules, respectively. These experiments yielded the following values of the molecular electric dipole moment in the ground vibrational states: μ(CH, A2Δ) = 0.887 ± 0.045 D, and μ(NH, X3Σ) = 1.389 ± 0.075 D. A table of experimental and theoretical dipole moments of first-row hydrides is included.