Knowledge Bank

In our search for the clusive spectrum of $CH5\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">+</mrow>}$ in a methane-hydrogen discharge, we have found many strong negative-ion-shaped absorption lines in the $2500cm-1$ region. The large linewidth and the fact that it appears in pure $H2$ discharge confirms that it is hydrogenic species. We compared the frequencies with those form two of the more recent $studies1,2$ of the 5g-4f spectra of $H2$ and saw that, indeed, they belonged to $H2$. However, we were able to obtain about twice as many lines than the previous works, owing to the greater sensitivity achievable in our spectrometer. The analysis is currently in progress, being undertake primarily by Dr. J.K.G. Watson.