metzger_1964#
P. H. Metzger and G. R. Cook, “A reinvestigation of the absorption cross-sections of molecular oxygen in the 1050-1800 A region”, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 4, 107 (1964)
Source record · Catalogue · Review register
DOI: 10.1016/0022-4073(64)90057-3
Source kind: measurement
Recorded technique: Photoelectric absorption with a McPherson 1 m Seya/normal-incidence vacuum monochromator (three gratings, blazed near 1200 A), bandwidth about 0.5 A (0.050 x 12.5 mm slits); two sources, a hydrogen discharge (many-line spectrum 850-1650 A, continuum above 1650 A) and a condensed-discharge argon continuum (1050-1600 A); the absorption cell behind the exit slit (LiF windows or the stainless-steel chamber, three detector arrangements, scattered light varied from under 0.5 % to 40 % and corrected); pressure by a cold-trapped McLeod gauge; O2 of three samples, N2 under 0.01 % (pp. 107-112). Windows measured with an 85.9 cm path (p. 112). Each value in 1300-1675 A a least-squares fit of transmission against pressure (p. 113).
Materials in structured entries: O2
Dataset quantities: absorption_cross_section, oscillator_strength
Contents: 3 datasets; 0 formulas.
Curation notes#
Journal pages 107-116 = PDF pages 1-10. O2 only. Wavelengths in A, vacuum ultraviolet (vacuum wavelengths).
Quantity (p. 108): phi = phi0 exp(-n sigma L), sigma = ln(phi0/phi)/(n L) ‘= k n0’ with ‘n0 ... Loschmidt’s number’ (printed so; the numbers show sigma = k / n0), n0 = 2.69 x 10^19 molecules/cm^3 (p. 115): k is the natural-log absorption coefficient (cm^-1) at the Loschmidt density. The dataset keeps the printed k with scale = 1e18 / 2.69e19 = 0.037174721 to the cross section in Mb (the paper’s own conversion: 402 cm^-1 ‘corresponds to a total absorption cross section of 1.49 +- 0.10 x 10^-17 cm^2’, p. 114, printed garbled as ‘1.49 +- 1 x 0.10^-17’; 402 / 2.69e19 = 1.494e-17). The ideal-gas n0 at 0 C and 1 atm, 2.6868e19, is 0.12 % lower; Fig. 5’s right-hand scale (sigma in 10^-18 cm^2) follows 2.687e19 in most of its labels (figure only). The vocabulary has no photoabsorption cross section: ‘photoionization_cross_section’ is used (all of Table 2 lies below the O2 ionisation limit; format need reported). Temperature not stated.
Accuracy: the Schumann-Runge maximum ‘near 1422 A is 402 +- 20 cm^-1’ (p. 114), the envelope of seven or eight points per wavelength (Fig. 6, figure only); otherwise not stated. The windows ‘satisfy Beer’s law’; ‘The value of Ly alpha shows a slight pressure effect noted in the data taken at shorter path lengths’ (p. 112). Band values A, B, C are approximate in Fig. 2’s legend (A ‘k ~ 200’, B ‘k ~ 430’, C ‘k ~ 1200’; D, E, F with ‘=’) (p. 109). The dissociation continuum itself (1300-1800 A, Figs. 5-6, over 100 wavelengths) is given only in figures.
Table 2 prints 420 cm^-1 for the S-R maximum, against 402 +- 20 in the abstract (p. 107), Fig. 2’s legend (’(S-R)MAX 1420 A, k = 402 +- 20 cm^-1’, p. 109) and the text (p. 114), which also converts 402 to 1.49e-17 cm^2 (erratum). The wavelength of the maximum is 1422 A in Table 2 and the text, 1420 A in Fig. 2.
Oscillator strength of the S-R continuum (p. 115): f = (m c^2 / (n0 e^2 pi)) integral k(nu) dnu from nu1 = 5.71e4 to nu2 = 7.41e4 cm^-1 (n0 = 2.69e19, e^2/mc^2 = 2.82e-13 cm) ‘was found to be f = 0.142, a value somewhat lower than previously determined values’ (Ladenburg and Van Voorhis 1933, Watanabe et al. 1953). Comparisons (pp. 107-108): Watanabe et al.’s maximum at 1420 A about 25 % below Ditchburn and Heddle’s 490 cm^-1 at 1450 A; this work agrees with Watanabe et al. ‘within experimental error’ (p. 114).
Table 1 (impurity emission lines of the argon source with relative intensities) is not data. Reference 7 (Watanabe, Advances in Geophysics 5, 157 (1958)) is cited as ‘A more complete listing of absorption coefficients’ (not in the library).
Recorded bibliographic identity status: VALIDATED_WITH_WARNINGS. This concerns identification of the source; it does not establish the scientific correctness of its contents.
Datasets#
metzger_1964/bands_windows#
{
"id": "bands_windows",
"material": "O2",
"file": "O2/metzger_1964__bands_windows.csv",
"table": "tbl_cbf80ad2566e",
"quantity": "absorption_cross_section",
"unit": "Mb",
"scale": 0.03717472119,
"abscissa_unit": "angstrom",
"wavelength_medium": "vacuum",
"use": "primary"
}
Table 2: k (cm^-1) of the diffuse bands A-F (peak values; A-C approximate) and the seven windows 1-7 (85.9 cm path; window 1 is Lyman alpha, 1215.7 A); scale = 1e18 / 2.69e19 (the paper’s n0) to the cross section in Mb. Uncertainty not stated. Resolution about 0.5 A. The windows are narrow minima between bands: their values depend on the wavelength setting and the band width.
metzger_1964/sr_maximum#
{
"id": "sr_maximum",
"material": "O2",
"file": "O2/metzger_1964__sr_maximum.csv",
"table": "tbl_cbf80ad2566e",
"quantity": "absorption_cross_section",
"unit": "Mb",
"scale": 0.03717472119,
"abscissa_unit": "angstrom",
"wavelength_medium": "vacuum",
"use": "primary",
"uncertainty": {
"relative": 0.05,
"level": "not stated"
}
}
Table 2 last row: the maximum of the Schumann-Runge continuum, 1422 A; printed 420 cm^-1, corrected to the 402 +- 20 cm^-1 of the abstract, Fig. 2 and the text (erratum); +-20 cm^-1 = 5 % (level not stated). scale = 1e18 / 2.69e19 to Mb (1.49e-17 cm^2 = 14.9 Mb, as the paper states).
metzger_1964/sr_continuum_f#
{
"id": "sr_continuum_f",
"material": "O2",
"table": "text",
"quantity": "oscillator_strength",
"abscissa": "label",
"use": "check"
}
1 inline points in the source record.
p. 115: the oscillator strength of the Schumann-Runge continuum B 3Sigma_u^- <- X 3Sigma_g^-, the integral of k(nu) over 5.71e4-7.41e4 cm^-1 (1750-1350 A) with n0 = 2.69e19 cm^-3. Index abscissa: an integrated strength over the stated range, not a line. Compare watanabe_1953 (0.161 over 5.7e4-7.8e4 cm^-1). A check.
Formulas#
No formulas are recorded.
Corrections#
[
{
"dataset": "sr_maximum",
"row": "S-R maximum",
"column": "value",
"printed": "420",
"corrected": "402",
"reason": "Table 2 prints 420 cm^-1 for the maximum of the Schumann-Runge continuum; the abstract (p. 107), Fig. 2's legend (p. 109) and the text (p. 114) give 402 +- 20 cm^-1, and the text's cross section 1.49e-17 cm^2 is 402 / 2.69e19 (420 would give 1.56e-17).",
"evidence": "Table image tbl_cbf80ad2566e.jpg (prints 420) and the pdf pages 3 and 8 (Fig. 2 legend, p. 114 text), checked 2026-09-25."
}
]
Formula corrections, where recorded, appear with their formulas above. Curation notes may also discuss corrections or unresolved interpretation. Consult the review register for the checks and decisions.