Emission spectrum of DyO molecule has been photographed under high resolution in the wavelength region 5000 to 6300 A. The observed bands have been arranged into three different band systems. The rotational structure in the (0, 0) band of system I is partially resolved and analysed. Isotopic shifts have been calculated for various isotopic molecules and compared with observations. Electronic states involved in the transitions have been discussed.

The C-X system of diatomic mercury chloride has been re-investigated in emission. The previous vibrational assignments of this system by Horne and others have been confirmed by measurement of the chlorine isotopic shift and improved vibrational constants for the ‘C’ state determined.

We describe a new method for the polarization of an electret foil which has proved very convenient and yields a foil having very good performance in a microphone. The variations in the charge accumulation on the electret foil and its decay with time as well as the variation of the microphone sensitivity with different microphone parameterse.g. different thicknesses of the electret foil, different back plates and different polarization techniques has been investigated. The sensitivity of the home-made microphone is estimated as 1 mV/μbar. The working of this type of microphone and its comparison with a commercial microphone as used in a (laboratory made) single beam photoacoustic spectrometer is discussed.

A brief description of the photoacoustic spectrometer including microphone biasing and the photoacoustic cell is given. The photoacoustic spectra of some rare earth oxides in the form of powders have been recorded. It is seen that the atomic levels of triplyionized rare earths which are not fluorescent appear very prominently in the photoacoustic spectrum. The spectra for terbium and praseodymium oxides do not show clear peaks probably due to the presence of different stoichiometric forms.

Total cross-section for electron impact excitation of the resonance levels in Li, Na and K are calculated using the method due to Crothers and McCarroll. The results are compared with other available theoretical and experimental data.

The photoacoustic spectra of Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G), Rhodamine B (RhB) dyes and their mixtures were recorded at different concentrations. It is observed that in the mixture the photoacoustic signal increases due to excitation transfer from Rh6G to RhB in the wavelength region 480–530 nm. The excitation transfer rate estimated from these data show that resonance is dominant rather than the collisional transfer process.

The effect of including distortion (with and without exchange) in the wavefunction for the continuum electron while calculating the probability of autoionization of 2s²¹S. 2s2p^1,3P, 2p²¹D and 2p²¹S states of He and Li⁺ has been studied.

Coulomb-projected Born methods for the theoretical study of electron impact excitation of hydrogen and helium are reviewed. The results obtained by using different forms of Coulomb-projected Born methods are compared with other theoretical and experimental results and analyzed. The inadequacy of the variable charge Coulomb-projected Born approximation (VCCPB)—the most recent form of the Coulomb-projected Born methods—in giving good results in processes where exchange is dominant is discussed in detail. The ‘modified’ VCCPB approximation obtained by modifying the VCCPB method to remove its shortcomings is also discussed and its application to electron impact excitation of 2³s state of helium is studied.

Doppler limited laser optogalvanic (LOG) spectra are obtained by irradiating a bromine discharge with a cw dye laser. The discrete bands of the Br₂B-X system appear superimposed on a strong continuum. The LOG spectrum is closely identical with the absorption/emission spectrum of Br₂. Some extra bands and assigned in theB-X system are also observed and their vibrational quantum number assignment is given.

Calculation of cross-sections for the two-electron excitation in helium-like ions by electron impact employing Coulomb-Born-Oppenheimer (CBO) approximation is presented. Analytical expressions for the differential and total scattering cross-sections without using partial wave expansion of the wavefunction reported earlier have been used. The total and differential scattering cross-sections for each of the excitations 1s²¹S* → 2s²¹S^e, 2s2p^1.3P⁰, 2p²¹S^e,³P^e,¹D^e in Be²⁺ and B³⁺ are computed. Results for Li⁺ reported earlier are also included for comparison.

We have calculated total and differential cross-sections for 1s →ns (n = 2, 3, 4) electron impact excitation of hydrogen and hydrogenic ions at various energies in Coulomb-projected Born approximation. Distortion due to static interactions, target polarization and exchange effects has been incorporated in the initial channel. The present calculations have been compared with other theoretical and experimental results.

Proton induced X-ray emission has been used to measureL-subshell and total ionization cross-sections of Au, Pb and Bi in the energy range of 200–350 keV. The ionization cross-sections have been extracted using the X-ray spectra and other quantities like fluorescence yields, transition probabilities, relative widths and Coster-Krönig fraction etc. involved in the process. The results have been compared with the cross-sections measured before and discussed in the light of known theories regarding the ion-atom collisions.

Two photon absorption spectrum ofp-dichlorobenzene has been studied in the spectral region 497–552 nm (one photon wavelength). Bands involving several frequencies of the excited electronic state not detected in the one photon absorption are seen. The observed two photon spectrum indicates that the electronic transition retains, to a large extent, the salient features of the two photon absorption spectrum of benzene and thus confirms chlorine as weak perturber (in the sense of Goodman and Rava [1]).

Fluorescence spectrum of Dy³⁺, Dy³⁺-Ho³⁺, Tb³⁺ and Tb³⁺-Er³⁺ doped in calibo glass have been studied using Ar⁺ and excimer lasers. Non-radiative energy transfer from trivalent dysprosium and terbium (donors) to holmium and erbium (acceptors) respectively has been observed on the basis of decrease in the life time of the levels and reduction in fluorescence intensity of Dy³⁺ and Tb³⁺ on increasing Ho and Er concentrations. The interaction mechanism of donor and acceptor ions is found to be dipole-dipole in both cases. Various parameters such as donor-acceptor distances, non-radiative energy transfer efficiency (η) and energy transfer probability (P_da) have been computed. Stark splitting have also been marked in several intense transition of the two.