Comparison between theoretical calculations and high-resolution measurements of pressure broadening for near-infrared water spectra

We report N2 and air foreign pressure broadening coefficients of more than twenty rovibrational transitions of water vapor in the 935-nm spectral region, and these measurements are compared to new theoretical calculations. The data were obtained using the frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectroscopy method, yielding relative uncertainties for the broadening parameters in the range 0.4-2.2%. The sensitivity of measured broadening parameters to the choice of line shape functions is discussed, and systematic differences between experimentally determined collisional broadening coefficients are shown for the cases when the observed line narrowing is interpreted in terms of Dicke-narrowing or the speed-dependence of the collisional broadening and shifting. Theoretical models of pressure broadening for these transitions agree with the measurements to within 4% for most transitions with an average relative difference of 0.63%.