The rovibrational Raman spectrum of water vapour v 1 and v 3

The OH stretching region in the Raman spectrum of water vapour has been observed and reproduced by computer simulation using rovibrational wave functions derived from the analysis of high-resolution absorption spectra. Relative intensity measurements allow the determination of the depolarization ratio and the ratio of the two non-vanishing second-order irreducible tensor components for v ₁. These quantities have been combined with the literature value for the cross section of this band to calculate the principal cartesian components of the v ₁ derived polarizability tensor. The cross section for the v ₃ vibration was also determined, and these results are considered in terms of the bond polarizability theory.