1 Ro-vibrational energy states for some diatomic molecules subject to shifted Deng-Fan oscillator potential M. Hamzavi 1* , S. M. Ikhdair 2** 1 Department of Basic Sciences, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran 2 Physics Department, Near East University, Nicosia, North Cyprus, Mersin 10, Turkey * Corresponding author: majid.hamzavi@gmail.com Tel.:+98 273 3395270, Fax: +98 273 3395270 ** sikhdair@neu.edu.tr Tel.:+90 392 2236624, Fax: +90 392 2236622 Abstract We obtain the bound-state solutions of the radial Schrödinger equation (SE) with the shifted Deng-Fan (sDF) oscillator potential in the frame of the Nikiforov-Uvarov (NU) method and employing Pekeris-type approximation to deal with the centrifugal term. The analytical expressions for the energy eigenvalues and the corresponding wave functions are obtained for arbitrary l -state. The ro-vibrational energy levels for a few diatomic molecules are also calculated. They are found to be in good agreement with those ones previously obtained by the Morse potential. Keywords: Schrödinger equation; shifted Deng-Fan oscillator potential; Nikiforov- Uvarov method, approximation schemes, diatomic molecules PACS: 03.65.-w; 04.20.Jb; 03.65.Fd; 02.30.Gp; 03.65.Ge 1. Introduction The most interesting phenomenon in many fields of physics and chemistry is to obtain the exact analytical solutions of the fundamental wave equations. These exact solutions play an important role in quantum mechanics since they contain all the necessary information regarding the quantum system under study. The two typical examples in quantum mechanics are the exact solution of the SE for a hydrogen atom (Coulomb field) and the harmonic oscillator [1-3]. The Mie-type and pseudo-