A measurement of the Rydberg constant

THE Rydberg constant is of key importance in spectroscopy and, because it may be expressed as the product of several fundamental physical constants, it also plays an important part as an auxiliary constant in the evaluation of the fundamental constants of physics1. We report here a value of the Rydberg constant that is derived from the measurement of three of the fine-structure components of the hydrogen Balmer-apha line by the saturable absorption technique2. The earlier measurements of the Rydberg constant by conventional spectroscopy and by the laser saturation absorption spectroscopy technique have been reviewed by Series3,4.

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