Nonequilibrium rotational distribution function for D2O molecules in a rarefied supersonic jet

Abstract

The authors examine the diagram of the lower rotational levels of D/sub 2/O. D/sub 2/O molecules can have a total spin of zero, one, or two. In molecular spectroscopy there is a division of levels into positive and negative, depending on whether the wave function changes sign upon an inversion of the coordinate system. The authors measured the integral absorption for the transitions indicated. The model on the basis of which the calculations were made is approximate, since the Polany-Woodall formula was written for a system of rotational levels of a diatomic molecule. The model is sufficiently simple and enables one to obtain satisfactory agreement with experiment and qualitatively predict new results.