The incoherent Raman spectrum of O2 molecular constants from all experimental data

A new incoherent vibration-rotational Raman spectrum of ¹⁶O₂ recorded by means of an interferometer is presented. The measured wavenumbers are analyzed together with a coherent Raman spectrum, six different microwave spectra from the vibrational ground state, and one microwave spectrum from the first vibrationally excited state in one fit. Due to the non-linear energy expression for oxygen, such an analysis requires the use of an iteration to find the minimum for the so-called merit function. A method has been developed to secure a stable iteration. The energy expression originally contains 21 constants. A systematic search leads to a reduction of this to 19 constants to make the fit possible. This results in two solutions, which are, however, only two different ways of indicating the one final energy function. The systematic use of iterations reduces the influence of the computational uncertainty on the final molecular constants to be orders of magnitude lower than the uncertainty due to the experimental errors.