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Concept
Einstein coefficients
Summary
Einstein coefficients are quantities describing the probability of absorption or emission of a photon by an atom or molecule. The Einstein A coefficients are related to the rate of spontaneous emission of light, and the Einstein B coefficients are related to the absorption and stimulated emission of light. Throughout this article, "light" refers to any electromagnetic radiation, not necessarily in the visible spectrum.
In physics, one thinks of a spectral line from two viewpoints.
An emission line is formed when an atom or molecule makes a transition from a particular discrete energy level E2 of an atom, to a lower energy level E1, emitting a photon of a particular energy and wavelength. A spectrum of many such photons will show an emission spike at the wavelength associated with these photons.
An absorption line is formed when an atom or molecule makes a transition from a lower, E1, to a higher discrete energy state, E2, with a photon being absorbed in the process. These absorbed photons generally come from background continuum radiation (the full spectrum of electromagnetic radiation) and a spectrum will show a drop in the continuum radiation at the wavelength associated with the absorbed photons.
The two states must be bound states in which the electron is bound to the atom or molecule, so the transition is sometimes referred to as a "bound–bound" transition, as opposed to a transition in which the electron is ejected out of the atom completely ("bound–free" transition) into a continuum state, leaving an ionized atom, and generating continuum radiation.
A photon with an energy equal to the difference E2 − E1 between the energy levels is released or absorbed in the process. The frequency ν at which the spectral line occurs is related to the photon energy by Bohr's frequency condition E2 − E1 = hν where h denotes the Planck constant.
An atomic spectral line refers to emission and absorption events in a gas in which is the density of atoms in the upper-energy state for the line, and is the density of atoms in the lower-energy state for the line.
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