Electrooptical Properties and Molecular Polarization of Iodine, I2

Experimental and theoretical efforts are combined to determine a reliable value of the static dipole polarizability of I2. The experimental estimate of the mean dipole polarizability is α = 69.7 ± 1.8e 2 a 0 2 E h -1. The polarizability of the iodine atom has also been deduced from experimental measurements and is estimated at 32.9 ± 1.3e 2 a 0 2 E h -1. Accurate ab initio calculations predict α = 70.9 ± 1.4e 2 a 0 2 E h -1 and for the anisotropy Δα = 41.2 ± 0.8e 2 a 0 2 E h -1. The deformation of the iodine molecule in the presence of general static fields has been studied and analyzed.