Molecular Iodine Fluorescence Spectra Generated with Helium-Neon Lasers for Spectrometer Calibration

Gas-phase molecular iodine laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra were recorded out to 815 nm at 1 cm(-1) resolution using green, yellow, and red helium-neon (HeNe) lasers as excitation sources. Nine previously unreported I(2) B←X absorption transitions accessed by these lasers were identified, and specific rovibronic transition assignments were made for two hundred LIF peaks--more than sixty per laser. These I(2) LIF peaks can be used to calibrate the vacuum wavenumber coordinate of spectrometers to better than 0.1 cm(-1) accuracy. In particular, green HeNe excitation of the I(2) R(106) 28-0 transition leads to strong fluorescence well suited for calibration, with a rotational doublet spacing of 15 cm(-1) and a doublet-to-doublet spacing of 190 cm(-1). Calibration by HeNe I(2) LIF may be an especially valuable technique for Raman spectroscopy applications.