Collected Works of H. S. Tsien (1938-1956)

On the Determination of Rotational Line Half-Widths of Diatomic Molecules*

S.S. Penner and H.S. Tsien

(Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California)

A simple closed-form expression is obtained for the fractional intensity of radiation absorbed by vibration-rotation bands with collision-broadened spectral lines. The resulting expressions greatly reduced the labor involved in obtaining apparent rotational half-widths from experimental measurements.

I. Introduction

At room temperature the integrated absorption of rotational lines is given, in adequate approximation, by the relations^[1,2]

(1a)

(1b) ...