Self-broadening and line mixing in HCN Q branches

A tunable difference-frequency laser has been used to record Q-branch spectra of the nu sub 1 + nu sub 2 (4004/cm) and nu sub 2 + nu sub 3 (2806/cm) combination bands, as well as the nu sub 1 - nu sub 2 (2599/cm) difference hot band of HCN, at 1-400 torr pressures. Line mixing is noted in the strongly overlapped, higher-pressure Q-branch profiles from the nonradiative Lorentzian superposition of the component transitions. An effective R to T transition energy-corrected-sudden scaling law is found to give a consistent and satisfactory fit to the Q-branch profiles of all three bands.