OSCILLATOR STRENGTHS OF TRANSITIONS BETWEEN RYDBERG STATES OF NITRIC OXIDE IN NEAR IR

In recent years several shock tube studies have been made of the radiation emanating from hot air and nitrogen in the near IR. These investigations showed about 10 times more radiation from air than could be accounted for on the basis of the N2(1+) band system alone; however, there has been some controversy as to the source of this excess air radiation. The present experiments utilized a continuosly running 1 atm constricted arc jet to prepare equilibrium air and nitrogen at temperatures between 3500 and 5800°K. The excess air radiation was confirmed, and it was shown that it requires the presence of both N and O nuclei. High resolution spectra (13 Å) were obtained from 0.9 to 1.2μ employing a scanning monochromator and photomultiplier. Most of the features of these air spectra could be correlated with transitions arising between Rydberg states of NO. Employing the available spectroscopic parameters, theoretical calculations of the wavelength dependence of the radiation were made. By comparing the calculated total synthetic spectra with the experimental spectra, f-numbers for nine NO Rydberg systems have been evaluated. © 1969.