Aspects of resonance Raman spectroscopy for the case of a double-well potential

The resonance Raman effect is examined in the case of a Raman active harmonic vibrational mode coupled with a mode governed by a double‐well potential. It is shown that in such a case the nature of the potential surface in the resonating electronic excited state is the determining factor governing the appearance of the bands in the spectrum. In certain cases, when both wells are significantly populated, the only observed band may be characteristic of the less populated well in the ground state.