Pressure broadening of spectral lines and van der Waals forces I—Influence of argon on the mercury resonance line

Abstract

It is the purpose of this and the following paper to consider the type of broadening of a spectral line, produced by approaches of other atoms to the radiating atom, which we shall call throughout “transits". The aspect with which we are particularly concerned is the transits of single atoms producing the wing of the broadened line. The intensity distribution in spectra of this type, which are intermediate between ordinary pressure broadening and continuous molecular spectra, can be interpreted in a simple way, yielding results on the van der Waals forces. The first paper gives an account of intensity measurements in the single transit region of the mercury line 2537 A. broadened by the admixture of argon.