Abstract

Magnetic rotation spectroscopy (MRS) is a powerful technique for detection of trace amounts of paramagnetic species, as has been demonstrated for NO and NO₂.^1-3 This technique has previously been applied because of its selectivity not only to the type of species on which one can make sensitive measurements, but also to molecular transitions having a small angular momentum quantum. The latter characteristic is due to the dependence of the magnetic rotation signal on the Zeeman splitting of the sample. For most species and transitions the Zeeman splitting depends on the angular momentum quantum number J roughly as 1/J (J + 1), and thus the MRS signal decreases rapidly as a function of J.

© 1998 Optical Society of America