Discharge studies of the lithium dimer diffuse bands

Abstract We report the observation of lithium dimer diffuse bands in the region from 410 nm to 460 nm emitted from a low-power discharge sustained inside a heat-pipe oven. The identification of the lithium diffuse band as a specific feature originating from the transitions from higher excited levels of the Li 2 molecule was supported by the construction of the emission profile in terms of recently calculated potential energy curves, relevant transition dipole moments and application of the modified quasi-static theory of the satellite band shape.