Dependence of transport characteristics of molecules on the rotational quantum number

Abstract

We derive a simple analytic formula that describes the relative difference of transport collision rates, Δv/v, for collisions of molecules and atoms in the rovibrational excitation of the former by light, as a function of the rotational quantum numbers of the combining (i.e., affected by radiation) levels of the molecules. (The relative difference of transport collision rates can be measured in light-induced drift, or LID, experiments and is proportional to the LID effect.) The formula is valid in the energy sudden approximation and is based on the well-known factorization formula for cross sections of RT-transitions in linear molecules that collide with atoms. We show that in this approximation the factor Δv/v is the sum of two independent terms, the vibrational term (Δv/v)vib and the rotational term (Δv/v)rot. Each term can be measured individually in LID experiments.