Gas phase electronic spectra of the carbon chains C5, C6, C8, and C9.

Three electronic absorption systems for C5 at 511, 445, and 232 nm and one for C6, C8, and C9 centered at 228, 259, and 288 nm have been observed in the gas phase. The C5 chain was produced in both discharge and ablation sources and detected using resonant two-color two-photon ionization spectroscopy involving 10.5 eV photons. The decay of the excited singlet electronic states indicates fast intramolecular processes on a subpicosecond time scale. The internal energy is assumed to be trapped in a triplet state for at least 15 micros. Hole-burning experiments on the 2 (3)Sigma(u)- <-- X (3)Sigma(g)- transition of C6, C8, and (1)Sigma(u)+ <-- X (1)Sigma(g)+ of C9 confirm the predissociative nature of the excited electronic states.