The definitive text on the rotational spectroscopy of diatomic molecules.

The definitive text on the rotational spectroscopy of diatomic molecules.

This book provides a fresh, photon‐based description of modern molecular spectroscopy and photophysics, with applications drawn from chemistry, biology, physics and materials science. The concise and detailed approach includes some of the most recent devel

This unified treatment introduces upper-level undergraduates and graduate students to the concepts and methods of modern molecular spectroscopy and their applications to quantum electronics, lasers, and related optical phenomena. Starting with a review of the prerequisite quantum mechanical background, the text examines atomic spectra and diatomic molecules, including the rotation and vibration of diatomic molecules and their electronic spectra. A discussion of rudimentary group theory advances to considerations of the rotational spectra of polyatomic molecules and their vibrational and electronic spectra; molecular beams, masers, and lasers; and a variety of forms of spectroscopy, including optical resonance spectroscopy, coherent transient spectroscopy, multiple-photon spectroscopy, and spectroscopy beyond molecular constants. The text concludes with a series of useful appendixes.

This book is written for graduate students just beginning research, for theorists curious about what experimentalists actually can and do measure, and for experimentalists bewildered by theory. It is a guide for potential users of spectroscopic data, and uses language and concepts that bridge the frequency-and time-domain spectroscopic communities. Key topics, concepts, and techniques include: the assignment of simple spectra, basic experimental techniques, definition of Born-Oppenheimer and angular momentum basis sets and the associated spectroscopic energy level patterns (Hund's cases), construction of effective Hamiltonian matrices to represent both spectra and dynamics, terms neglected in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (situations intermediate between Hund's cases, spectroscopic perturbations), nonlinear least squares fitting, calculation and interpretation of coupling terms, semi-classical (WKB) approximation, transition intensities and interference effects, direct photofragmentation (dissociation and ionization) and indirect photofragmentation (predissociation and autoionization) processes, visualization of intramolecular dynamics, quantum beats and wavepackets, treatment of decaying quasi-eigenstates using a complex Heff model, and concluding with some examples of polyatomic molecule dynamics. Students will discover that there is a fascinating world of cause-and-effect localized dynamics concealed beyond the reduction of spectra to archival molecular constants and the exact ab initio computation of molecular properties. Professional spectroscopists, kinetics, ab initio theorists will appreciate the practical, simplified-model, and rigorous theoretical approaches discussed in this book. - A fundamental reference for all spectra of small, gas-phase molecules - It is the most up-to-date and comprehensive book on the electronic spectroscopy and dynamics of diatomic molecules - The authors pioneered the development of many of the experimental methods, concepts, models, and computational schemes described in this book

Spectroscopy is the study of electromagnetic radiation and its interaction with solid, liquid, gas and plasma. It is one of the widely used analytical techniques to study the structure of atoms and molecules. The technique is also employed to obtain information about atoms and molecules as a result of their distinctive spectra. The fast-spreading field of spectroscopic applications has made a noteworthy influence on many disciplines, including energy research, chemical processing, environmental protection and medicine. This book aims to introduce students to the topic of spectroscopy. The author has avoided the mathematical aspects of the subject as far as possible; they appear in the text only when inevitable. Including topics such as time-dependent perturbation theory, laser action and applications of Group Theory in interpretation of spectra, the book offers a detailed coverage of the basic concepts and applications of spectroscopy.

Spectra of Atoms and Molecules, 2nd Edition is designed to introduce advanced undergraduates and new graduate students to the vast field of spectroscopy. Of interest to chemists, physicists, astronomers, atmospheric scientists, and engineers, it emphasizes the fundamental principles of spectroscopy with its primary goal being to teach students how to interpret spectra. The book includes a clear presentation of group theory needed for understanding the material and a large number of excellent problems are found at the end of each chapter. In keeping with the visual aspects of the course, the author provides a large number of diagrams and spectra specifically recorded for this book. Topics such as molecular symmetry, matrix representation of groups, quantum mechanics, and group theory are discussed. Analyses are made of atomic, rotational, vibrational, and electronic spectra. Spectra of Atoms and Molecules, 2nd Edition has been updated to include the 1998 revision of physical constants, and conforms more closely to the recommended practice for the use of symbols and units. This new edition has also added material pertaining to line intensities, which can be confusing due to the dozens of different units used to report line and band strengths. Another major change is in author Peter Bernath's discussion of the Raman effect and light scattering, where the standard theoretical treatment is now included. Aimed at new students of spectroscopy regardless of their background, Spectra of Atoms and Molecules will help demystify spectroscopy by showing the necessary steps in a derivation.