EMISSION AND ABSORPTION SPECTRA OF RARE GAS MOLECULES IN THE VACUUM ULTRAVIOLET

Author Institution: U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, E. O. Hulburt Center for Space ResearchThe continuous microwave excited emission spectrum of argon in the region 1050 to $1400 {\AA}$ has been studied as function of discharge pressure. The intensity in the region below $1100 {\AA}$ is reduced by self-absorption of $Ar_{2}$ van der Waals molecules especially at the higher pressures. The atmospheric absorption coefficients $(\alpha = 1/l \log I_{0}/I)$ of both argon and krypton near their resonance lines $(1066 {\AA} and 1235 {\AA})$ are shown to be a linear function of pressure, in support of the existence of slightly attractive potential curves for rare gas molecules in their ground states. The absorption line profiles of the krypton resonance lines at $1235 {\AA} (^{1}S_{o}\to ^{3}P_{1})$ and $1164 {\AA} (^{1}S_{o}to ^{1}P_{1})$ have been studied in some detail, yielding absorption coefficients and oscillator strengths for these lines