Dissociation Energy of the Hydrogen Molecule at 10-9 Accuracy

C. F. Cheng, J. Hussels, M. Niu, H. L. Bethlem, K. S.E. Eikema, E. J. Salumbides, W. Ubachs, M. Beyer, N. Hölsch, J. A. Agner, F. Merkt, L. G. Tao, S. M. Hu, Ch Jungen

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Abstract

The ionization energy of ortho-H2 has been determined to be EIo(H2)/(hc)=124 357.238 062(25) cm-1 from measurements of the GK(1,1)-X(0,1) interval by Doppler-free, two-photon spectroscopy using a narrow band 179-nm laser source and the ionization energy of the GK(1,1) state by continuous-wave, near-infrared laser spectroscopy. EIo(H2) was used to derive the dissociation energy of H2, D0N=1(H2), at 35 999.582 894(25) cm-1 with a precision that is more than one order of magnitude better than all previous results. The new result challenges calculations of this quantity and represents a benchmark value for future relativistic and QED calculations of molecular energies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number013001
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume121
Issue number1
Early online date3 Jul 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Jul 2018

Funding

F. M. and W. U. acknowledge the European Research Council for an ERC-Advanced grant under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 670168 and No. 743121). The project is funded by Laserlab-Europe EU-H2020 654148. H. B., K. E., and W. U. acknowledge FOM/NWO for a program grant on “The Mysterious Size of the Proton.” F. M. acknowledges the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project No. 200020-172620). S. H. acknowledges the support from NSFC (21688102) and CAS (XDB21020100).

FundersFunder number
ERC-Advanced
EU-H2020
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme743121, 670168, 654148
College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nebraska-LincolnXDB21020100
European Research Council
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung200020-172620
National Natural Science Foundation of China

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