Dipole moments anharmonic infrared intensities

Equations (6.5) and (6.12) contain terms in x to the second and higher powers. If the expressions for the dipole moment /i and the polarizability a were linear in x, then /i and ot would be said to vary harmonically with x. The effect of higher terms is known as anharmonicity and, because this particular kind of anharmonicity is concerned with electrical properties of a molecule, it is referred to as electrical anharmonicity. One effect of it is to cause the vibrational selection mle Au = 1 in infrared and Raman spectroscopy to be modified to Au = 1, 2, 3,. However, since electrical anharmonicity is usually small, the effect is to make only a very small contribution to the intensities of Av = 2, 3,. .. transitions, which are known as vibrational overtones. 

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