High Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy Using Direct Discharge and Optically Pumped Molecular Lasers in the Far-Infrared

University Of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse WI

Investigators

Abstract

Michael Jackson of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is supported by a grant from the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program to investigate the high resolution absorption spectroscopy of a series of symmetric (fluromethane and phosphine) and asymmetric (sulfur dioxide, difluoroethylene, hydrazine and methanol) top molecules using far ir (FIR) Stark spectroscopy. Analysis of the spectra will yield frequencies of the many spectroscopic transitions, molecular structural parameters and accurate electric dipoles. In addition, measurements through the FIR region will give the rotational state dependence of doublet/inversion splitting and of the electric dipole moments. Molecular spectroscopy provides a way of both detecting and identifying molecules remotely and of determining their fundamental internal properties. This study extends the work into the infrared region of the spectrum where there are applications to molecule detection in interstellar space, planetary atmospheres and to laser science.