Abstract

Even with the great resolution of modern spectrometers, it often happens that the Doppler width (or other causes of line broadening) is large enough that close lying lines are only partially separated. This is common in atomic spectra where many hyperfine components may occur within an interval only a small fraction of a wavenumber wide. It is also a common occurrence in spectra from elements with several isotopes, or can be due to chance coincidence of transitions from the same or different elements. Similar situations also often arise in molecular spectra that could be treated by similar techniques, but they are beyond the scope of the present discussion. We will limit our consideration to structures in atomic transitions due to hyperfine splitting and/or isotope shifts.

© 1995 Optical Society of America