Studies of the Jahn - Teller effect IV. The vibrational spectra of spin-degenerate molecules

The physical theory necessary for interpreting the vibrational spectra of spin-degenerate molecules is developed in this paper. Particular attention is paid to those molecules whose behaviour is expected to be markedly different from that of both orbitally non-degenerate molecules and those with purely spatial degeneracy. These include certain Kramers degenerate molecules, whose Raman spectra are expected to contain reverse-polarized contributions, and also tetrahedral and octahedral molecules in fourfold degenerate states. The case of a fourfold degenerate octahedral molecule is investigated in the limits of strong vibronic coupling by one of the Jahn—Teller active vibrations (e g and t 2g ). It turns out that the forbidden t 2u vibration may be infra-red active, that the Raman spectrum may contain reverse-polarized contributions and that both infra-red and Raman spectra may contain strong progressions of bands involving multiple excitations of the vibronically active vibration.