The pressure broadening and shifts of electronic-vibrational-rotational transitions in the spectrum of formaldehyde

Abstract

The broadening and shifts due to helium and argon perturbers have been measured for two well isolated electronic-vibrational-rotational lines in the near ultraviolet absorption spectrum of formaldehyde. The broadening is typically an order of magnitude smaller than that for atomic spectral lines and the shifts essentially zero. These results are ascribed to the small change in the molecular structure associated with the electronic excitation and the strong angular dependence of the atom-molecule interactions.