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Laser spectroscopy of the X 1Σ+ and B 1Π states of the LiRb molecule

We have studied the X 1Σ+ and B 1Π states of 7Li85Rb using Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy and Fluorescence Excitation Spectroscopy (FES). We extract molecular constants for levels v" = 0-2 of the X 1Σ+ state and levels v' = 0-20 of the B 1Π state. For the B 1Π state, we have observed rotational perturbations in the e-parity component of the v' = 2 level, and determined the dissociation energy. We discuss implications of our measurements in finding efficient photoassociation pathways for production of ultra-cold ground state LiRb molecules, and their detection via state selective ionization.