Rovibronic resonances of ozone in the excited electronic state ${}^3{A}_2(0,1,0)$ were observed in the high-sensitivity laser cavity ring-down experiment. Accurate measurements of line broadening for several series of transitions permitted to derive predissociation widths and lifetimes of ${}^3{A}_2$ levels. The rovibrational levels have short lifetimes in the interval 6 to 80 ps due to dissociation towards the quasicontinuum of the ground electronic state $X^1{A}_1$ by the spin-orbit coupling. Analysis of predissociation line broadening in experimental spectra, combined with ab initio calculations of vibrational scattering states, allowed us to assign the resonances as Feshbach-type in the excited ozone. The predissociation is resonantly enhanced by quasibound rovibrational levels of the ${\left\{{\mathrm{O}}_2(v=1)\text{−}\mathrm{O}\right\}}^{*}$ complex in the $X^1{A}_1\mathrm{state}$, which decay to the ${\mathrm{O}}_2(v=0)$-O channel, open at the energy of the resonances.

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• Atomic & molecular collisions
• Scattering of atoms, molecules, clusters & ions
• Lifetime of molecular or ionic species