Ozone spectroscopy in the terahertz range from first high-resolution Synchrotron SOLEIL experiments combined with far-infrared measurements and ab initio intensity calculations

Ozone is one of the important molecules in terms of the impact on the atmospheric chemistry, climate changes, bio- and eco-systems and human health. It has a strong absorption in the microwave, terahertz and far-infrared spectral ranges where a large part of the Earth's outgoing longwave radiation to space is located. In this work, the observations, and analyses of the ozone high-resolution spectra in the THz range recorded using the Synchrotron light source of the SOLEIL CNRS equipment are reported for the first time. Thanks to the exceptional brightness of the Synchrotron radiation and to the signal/noise ratio, it was possible to observe many more ozone transitions of the cold rotational band and the hot ν2-ν2 band in the range 0.9-6 THz compared to the previous works. In addition, we have carried out new measurements and assignments for the ν2 band. The simultaneous fit of the rotational band GS-GS, the hot band ν2-ν2 and the FIR ν2 band yielded an overall weighted standard deviation of 0.68 for 13,466 line positions within the experimental accuracy. This includes all previously available MW (with the best uncertainty 0.1 - 10 kHz), FIR data and the original SOLEIL measurements that provided experimental accuracy of 0.00005 - 0.0001 cm-1 for the best lines. Significant deviations in new experimental spectra compared to available spectroscopic databases were evidenced, particularly for the line positions and energy levels at high J, Ka rotational quantum numbers that are the most pronounced in the 4.5 - 6 THz range. Accurate ab initio calculations of line intensities combined with empirically fitted line positions were used to create new linelists that permit theoretical modelling of the transmittance in a good agreement with the Synchrotron spectra in the entire range of observations for various pressures and optical paths. The region near 100 cm-1 and above appears to be more sensitive to the temperature conditions that should be considered in atmospheric observation for the currently operational and future ground based and space missions.

VIBFREQ1295: A New Database for Vibrational Frequency Calculations

High-throughput approaches for producing approximate vibrational spectral data for molecules of astrochemistry interest rely on harmonic frequency calculations using computational quantum chemistry. However, model chemistry recommendations (i.e., a level of theory and basis set pair) for these calculations are not yet available and, thus, thorough benchmarking against comprehensive benchmark databases is needed. Here, we present a new database for vibrational frequency calculations (VIBFREQ1295) storing 1295 experimental fundamental frequencies and CCSD(T)(F12*)/cc-pVDZ-F12 ab initio harmonic frequencies from 141 molecules. VIBFREQ1295's experimental data was complied through a comprehensive review of contemporary experimental data, while the ab initio data was computed here. The chemical space spanned by the molecules chosen is considered in-depth and is shown to have good representation of common organic functional groups and vibrational modes. Scaling factors are routinely used to approximate the effect of anharmonicity and convert computed harmonic frequencies to predicted fundamental frequencies. With our experimental and high-level ab initio data, we find that a single global uniform scaling factor of 0.9617(3) results in median differences of 15.9(5) cm^-1. A far superior performance with a median difference of 7.5(5) cm^-1 can be obtained, however, by using separate scaling factors (SFs) for three regions: frequencies less than 1000 cm^-1 (SF = 0.987(1)), between 1000 and 2000 cm^-1 (SF = 0.9727(6)), and above 2000 cm^-1 (SF = 0.9564(4)). This sets a lower bound for the performance that could be reliably obtained using scaling of harmonic frequency calculations to predict experimental fundamental frequencies. VIBFREQ1295's most important purpose is to provide a robust database for benchmarking the performance of any vibrational frequency calculations. VIBFREQ1295 data could also be used to train machine-learning models for the prediction of vibrational spectra and as a reference and data starting point for more detailed spectroscopic modeling of particular molecules. The database can be found as part of the Supporting Information for this paper or in the Harvard DataVerse at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VLVNU7.

Concentration measurements of ozone in the 1200-300ppbv range: an intercomparison between the BNM ultraviolet standard and infrared methods

Simultaneous ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) measurements of ozone concentration in air in the 1200-300 ppbv range have been performed using the ultraviolet absorption in the Hartley band at 0.2537 microm and the infrared absorption of a doublet at 9.507 microm in the nu(3) vibration-rotation band. Infrared concentration measurements were achieved using the tunable diode laser spectrometer of LPMA in Paris with interferometric control of the emitted wavelength while the UV concentration measurements were performed with the 49PS Megatec ozone generator of the Bureau National de Metrologie (BNM). The simultaneous recording of spectra of a reference cell filled with pure distilled ozone and of a low concentration mixture inside a long absorbing path Herriott cell allows to carry out infrared concentration measurements with an accuracy of the same order as the ultraviolet ones and provides the instrumental parameters of the spectrometer corresponding to each concentration measurement, which reduces systematic errors. Within the respective absolute uncertainties proper to the two techniques, no systematic discrepancy was evidenced between the IR and the UV measurements. The ozone ultraviolet absorption coefficient value determined by Hearn (308.3 +/- 4 cm(-1)atm(-1)) and used by the BNM and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is confirmed by the present work.

An intercomparison of measured pressure-broadening and pressure-shifting parameters of water vapor

The present work is an intercomparison of experimental results on the pressure broadening and pressure shifting of water vapor absorption lines. The work focuses on application to the Earth's atmosphere; hence measurements of nitrogen, oxygen, air, and H2O as the buffer, or perturbing gas, were considered. The literature was searched and over 100 papers found. The data, measured half-widths, their temperature dependence, and the line shifts, were taken and databases created for each perturbing gas. The databases were reordered, grouping data for rovibrational transitions, and intercomparisons of the measurements made. Trends in the data, relationships between the data sets, and dependences on temperature and quantum numbers were investigated. The data were averaged and an estimated uncertainty determined. The averaged data sets are evaluated with respect to the need of the spectroscopic and remote sensing communities. Based on these studies, recommendations for new measurements are made.Key words: water vapor, half-widths, line shifts, temperature dependence of half-width.