Rotationally inelastic rates for N2–N2 system from a scaling theoretical analysis of the stimulated Raman Q branch

Abstract
Self‐broadened nitrogen isotropic Q(J) Raman linewidths have been inverted to obtain effective rotation–translation (R–T) state‐to‐state rate constants using the energy corrected sudden (ECS) formalism. These rate constants are discussed as a function of the rotational levels J and temperature T. Collisional Q(J) line shifts have been investigated by high‐resolution inverse Raman spectroscopy (IRS) over a wide temperature range. Semiclassical calculations lead to a clear understanding of their J and T dependence. This exhaustive study of both diagonal and off‐diagonal relaxation matrix elements has allowed us to calculate the collisionally narrowed Q branch at high pressure. New measurements of N2 Q branch at high pressure have been performed by IRS. The good agreement of ECS profiles with IRS data, for various pressures and temperatures, underlines the consistency of the present R–T ECS scaling analysis.