THE HYPERFINE STRUCTURE of the ROTATIONAL SPECTRUM of HDO and ITS EXTENSION to the THz REGION: ACCURATE REST FREQUENCIES and SPECTROSCOPIC PARAMETERS for ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS

The rotational spectrum of the mono-deuterated isotopologue of water, HD16O, has been investigated in the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave frequency regions, up to 1.6 THz. The Lamb-dip technique has been exploited to obtain sub-Doppler resolution and to resolve the hyperfine (hf) structure due to the deuterium and hydrogen nuclei, thus enabling the accurate determination of the corresponding hf parameters. Their experimental determination has been supported by high-level quantum-chemical calculations. The Lamb-dip measurements have been supplemented by Doppler-limited measurements (weak high-J and high-frequency transitions) in order to extend the predictive capability of the available spectroscopic constants. The possibility of resolving hf splittings in astronomical spectra has been discussed.