The Conditions Necessary for the Absorption of Ultra-Short Waves in Hydrogen

Abstract

A review is given of the work published to date on the absorption of ultra-short radio waves in excited hydrogen. A fairly detailed quantum mechanical analysis is given of the whole problem of intensity ratios for the Balmer line components. Theoretical intensity ratios are calculated; and the application of these results to the experimental problem is pointed out, together with the necessity for making preliminary investigations of the experiment values of these ratios. The experiment described measured the values of the intensity ratios for Hα and Hβ at five different pressures, by means an analysis with a spectrograph crossed with a Fabry-Perot interferometer. A discussion is given of the significance of the measured values, and from them predictions have been made concerning the probable success of an experiment to measure the absorption of ultra-short waves in hydrogen.