The Rayleigh depolarization ratio and rotational Raman spectrum of water vapor and the polarizability components for the water molecule

Abstract

This paper describes the observation and computer simulation of the rotational Raman spectrum of water vapor and the measurement of the depolarization ratio for Rayleigh scattering from water vapor, which was found to be (3.0±1.4) ×10−4. These results were combined with the value of the mean polarizability to calculate the principal polarizability components of the water molecule. At 514.5 nm, they are (in units of 10−24 cm3): αxx=1.468±0.003, αyy =1.415±0.013, and αzz=1.528±0.013, where the x axis is the dipole axis and the y axis is perpendicular to the molecular plane.