Abstract
It is shown that the atmospheric oxygen absorption bands can be attributed to a transition from the normal () to a metastable excited state of . This accounts for all the strong lines, and explains missing lines, without conflict with existing theory. Certain very weak series such as the band are, however, not yet explained. Of the three rotational levels for each value of in the normal state, the two for which show only a very small separation, which increases slowly with , while the third is separated from the other two by an interval of about 2 wavenumbers which does not change with (cf. Fig. 2 and Table I). The and states involved in the atmospheric bands may perhaps be attributed both to the same electron configuration, in agreement with a suggestion made in a previous paper. If this is the case, it is likely that a metastable state derived from the same configuration also exists, and that infra-red atmospheric bands corresponding to the transition should be found.
- Received 25 August 1928
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.32.880
©1928 American Physical Society