Collisionally cooled spectroscopy: Pressure broadening below 5 K

Abstract

New results from pressure broadening measurements between 4.3 and 1.7 K for the J=2←1 and 3←2 transitions of CO broadened by helium are reported. Unlike the results of helium pressure broadening experiments at higher temperature, significant variations in cross section occur with changes in temperature. These measurements are compared with the results of close coupling calculations and show both the effects of resonances in the collision channels and energy defects at the very low collision energies. Room-temperature measurements of helium pressure broadening have also been made on CO, NO, CH3F, and H2S. These provide a normalization for our previous studies of these species at very low temperatures and a basis for the qualitative comparison of the diverse results we have obtained.