Absorption Structure Near the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>K</mml:mi></mml:math>Edge of the Nitrogen Molecule

Abstract

The absorption spectrum of the nitrogen molecule in the 30 \AA{} region has been studied photographically, using synchrotron radiation from a 1.3-BeV electron synchrotron as the background continuum. A 2-m grazing incidence spectrograph with a glass grating was used to take the absorption spectrum. Discrete structure has been observed near the $K$ edge of nitrogen. On the basis of electron configuration, the absorption data obtained are compared with the optical spectroscopic data of the NO molecule and it is found that the absorption structure is well explained as due to the excitations of a $1s$ electron to outer-shell orbitals of the nitrogen molecule. The energy value of 409.5 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.1 eV is obtained for the $K$ level of the nitrogen molecule.