High-temperature continuous molecular beam source for aggressive elements: An example of zinc

Expansion of Zn2 or ZnRg (Rg = rare gas atom) in a molecular supersonic beam constitutes a considerable technical challenge due to the high zinc melting point and high zinc reactivity with stainless steel at high temperatures. In order to overcome these difficulties and meet the requirements for spectroscopy of van der Waals molecules containing zinc, a high-temperature source-module of the supersonic molecular beam for aggressive elements was designed. The module was tested in the laser-induced fluorescence excitation spectroscopy experiment using the b30+u(43P1)←X10+g(41S0) bound ← bound transitions in Zn2. The new source-module can be used for other aggressive elements for which a laser-vaporization technique has been used to date.