Measurement of weak depolarization ratios of the Rayleigh scattering of gases using Raman spectroscopy

Abstract Using a spectroscopic method suggested by Murphy, the depolarization ratios for the Rayleigh scattering of several gases have been measured, lying in the range of 10−2 to 5*10−5. The values obtained are generally lower than those found by previous authors who used the classical method, especially in the case of extremely small depolarization ratios. For hydrogen and deuterium sulphides, which present the smallest depolarization ratios ever observed, a difference is found between the isotopomers although this at the limit of the experimental error.