A theoretical and experimental study of pressure broadening of the oxygen A-band by helium

The rotationally resolved magnetic dipole absorption spectrum of the oxygen A-band b1Σg+(v=0)←X3Σg−(v=0) perturbed by collisions with helium was studied theoretically using the impact approximation. To calculate the relaxation matrix, scattering calculations were performed on a newly computed helium-oxygen (b1Σg+) interaction potential as well as on a helium-oxygen (X3Σg−) interaction potential from the literature. The calculated integrated line cross sections and broadening coefficients are in good agreement with experimental results from the literature. Additionally, cavity ring-down experiments were performed in the wings of the spectral lines for a quantitative study of line-mixing, i.e., the redistribution of rotational line intensities by helium-oxygen collisions. It is shown that inclusion of line-mixing in the theory is required to reproduce the experimentally determined absolute absorption strengths as a function of the density of the helium gas.