Rotational and rotational-vibrational Raman spectroscopy of air to characterize astronomical spectrographs

Abstract

Raman scattering enables unforeseen uses for the laser guide-star system of the Very Large Telescope. Here, we present the observation of one up-link sodium laser beam acquired with the ESPRESSO spectrograph at a resolution $\hat{I}»/\hat{I}”\hat{I}»\sim 140^{\prime }000$. In 900s on-source, we detect the pure rotational Raman lines of ${}^{16}$O${}_2$, ${}^{14}$N${}_2$, and ${}^{14}$N${}^{15}$N (tentatively) up to rotational quantum numbers $J$ of 27, 24, and 9, respectively. We detect the ${}^{16}$O${}_2$ fine-structure lines induced by the interaction of the electronic spin \textbf{S} and end-over-end rotational angular momentum \textbf{N} in the electronic ground state of this molecule up to $N=9$. The same spectrum also reveals the $\hat{I}{½}_{1\leftarrow 0}$ rotational-vibrational Q-branch for ${}^{16}$O${}_2$ and ${}^{14}$N${}_2$. These observations demonstrate the potential of using laser guide-star systems as accurate calibration sources for characterizing new astronomical spectrographs.

11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters