Fermi resonances in the Raman spectra of alkali halide/BH4−

Raman spectra of a series of alkali-halide/BH^?₄ (and BD^?₄ crystals have been obtained. These spectra show some interesting examples of Fermi resonance type interactions between the stretching mode levels and overtone and combination band levels of the bending modes. Two resonances will be considered: (i) that between ν₁ and 2ν₄(A₁), and (ii) that between ν₃, 2ν₄ (F₂) and (ν₂+ν₄) (F₂).The F₂ resonance between ν₃, 2ν₄ and ν₂+ν₄ appears in the infrared spectrum and it has been studied on several occasions. However the equivalent Raman spectrum is of interest because the relative intensities of the bands are significantly different to those shown by the infrared spectrum.In the A₁ (and E) Raman spectrum of the stretching mode region there are two strong bands for each for the ¹⁰B and ¹¹B isotopes. The ν₁ would not be expected to show any ¹⁰B and ¹¹B splitting, but the observed bands are both closely resonating mixtures of ν₁ and 2ν₄(A₁). In fact the analysis shows that the stronger band has the higher proportion of 2ν₄ character, and the larger isotopic shift of the more intense band can then be seen to be reasonable.