Rotational spectrum of jet-cooled HfO2 and HfO

The rotational spectrum of jet-cooled hafnium dioxide obtained by laser ablation of a solid ceramic rod has been investigated by Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy in the 8 to 28 GHz frequency range. Rotational transitions within the ground and several excited vibrational states of the lowest vibrational mode of the molecule have been assigned. The resulting spectra have been fit, yielding rotational parameters for the five most abundant isotopomers of HfO2. Centrifugal distortion effects are noticeable even for the lowest-J transitions. Very large quadrupole coupling effects for the isotopomers with nuclear quadrupole moments (179Hf (I=9/2) and Hf177 (I=7/2)) have been accounted for using the diagonal elements of the nuclear quadrupole coupling tensor. A ground-state effective C2v geometry has been obtained for HfO2, yielding ro(Hf–O)=1.7764(4) Å and ∠(O–Hf–O)=107.51(1)°. The electric dipole moment has been determined for HfO2180 from Stark-effect measurements, giving μ=26.42(3)×10-30C⋅m [7.92(1) D]. Ab initio calculations using density functional theory and relativistic core potentials are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results. Finally, in the course of this investigation, the rotational spectrum of the diatomic molecule, HfO, has also been reexamined, and new results for vibrational satellites (up to v=18 in some cases) of the J=1←0 rotational transition are reported. A vibrational analysis using Le Roy’s form of the Dunham expansion has allowed the determination of atomic mass-dependent Born–Oppenheimer breakdown parameters for both atoms of HfO.