Line-width

Because the line width is much less than the resolution this ratio is not reflected in the peak heights in Figure 6.8. 

Laser radiation is very much more intense, and the line width much smaller, than that from, for example, a mercury arc, which was commonly used as a Raman source before 1960. As a result, weaker Raman scattering can now be observed and higher resolution is obtainable. 

Figure 9.3 Doppler limited laser line with twelve axial modes within the line width

Another feature of the spectrum shown in Figure 10.19 is the narrow width of the absorption lines, which is a consequence of the fixed difference in energy between the ground and excited states. Natural line widths for atomic absorption, which are governed by the uncertainty principle, are approximately 10 nm. Other contributions to broadening increase this line width to approximately 10 nm. 

Figure 2.5 shows, for a sample in the gas phase, a typical absorption line with a HWHM (half-width at half-maximum) of Av and a characteristic line shape. The line is not infinitely narrow even if we assume that the instmment used for observation has not imposed any broadening of its own. We shall consider three important factors that may contribute to the line width and shape. 

Of the four types of broadening that have been discussed, that due to the natural line width is, under normal conditions, much the smallest and it is the removal, or the decrease, of the effects of only Doppler, pressure and power broadening that can be achieved. 

Equation 10.1 has an important consequence for atomic absorption. Because of the narrow line width for atomic absorption, a continuum source of radiation cannot be used. Even with a high-quality monochromator, the effective bandwidth for a continuum source is 100-1000 times greater than that for an atomic absorption line. As a result, little of the radiation from a continuum source is absorbed (Pq Pr), and the measured absorbance is effectively zero. Eor this reason, atomic absorption requires a line source. 

In order to observe such high-resolution fluorescence excifafion spectra, the laser must have a very small line width. To achieve this a ring dye laser, a modification of the dye laser described in Section 9.2.10, is used a line width as small as 0.5 MFIz (1.5 x 10 cm ) can be obtained. 

Dye lasers, frequency doubled if necessary, provide ideal sources for such experiments. The radiation is very intense, the line width is small ( 1 cm ) and the wavenumber may be tuned to match any absorption band in the visible or near-ultraviolet region. 

Avdievich N I and Forbes M D E 1995 Dynamic effects in spin-correlated radical pair theory J modulation and a new look at the phenomenon of alternating line widths in the EPR spectra of flexible biradicals J. Phys. Chem. 99 9660-7 

A monochromator is useful not only for removing unwanted lines from the X-ray source but also for narrowing the otherwise broad lines. For example, each of the MgXa and AlXa doublets is unresolved and about 1 cY wide at half-intensity. A monochromator can reduce this to about 0.2 cY This reduction of the line width is very important because in an XPS specttum, unlike an ultraviolet photoelectron specttum, the resolution is limited by the line width of the ionizing radiation. Unfortunately, even after line narrowing to 0.2 cY 

Figure C 1.3.5. Spectra of two different infrared bands of HF dimer, corresponding to excitation of the bound (lower panel) and free (upper panel) HF monomers in the complex. Note the additional line width for the bound HF, caused by vibrational predissociation with a lifetime of about 0.8 ns. (Taken from 1211.)

High-resolution spectroscopy used to observe hyperfme structure in the spectra of atoms or rotational stnicture in electronic spectra of gaseous molecules connnonly must contend with the widths of the spectral lines and how that compares with the separations between lines. Tln-ee contributions to the linewidth will be mentioned here tlie natural line width due to tlie finite lifetime of the excited state, collisional broadening of lines, and the Doppler effect. 

Lasers (see Chapter 9) are sources of intense, monochromatic radiation which are ideal for Raman spectroscopy and have entirely replaced atomic emission sources. They are more convenient to use, have higher intensity and are more highly monochromatic for example, the line width at half-intensity of 632.8 nm (red) radiation from a helium-neon laser can be less than 0.05 cm.  

Molecules such as 3,4 and 5 in Figure 2.6, which have a zero velocity component away from the source, behave uniquely in that they absorb radiation of the same frequency Vj-es whether the radiation is travelling towards or away from R, and this may result in saturation (see Section 2.3.4). If saturation occurs for the set of molecules 3, 4 and 5 while the radiation is travelling towards R, no further absorption takes place as it travels back from R. The result is that a dip in the absorbance curve is observed at Vj-es, as indicated in Figure 2.5. This is known as a Lamb dip, an effect which was predicted by Lamb in 1964. The width of the dip is the natural line width, and observation of the dip results in much greater accuracy of measurement of v es. 

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