INFRARED-ABSORPTION SPECTRUM OF THE ELECTRON BUBBLE IN LIQUID-HELIUM

The energy of the electronic transition from the ground state to the first excited state in the electron bubble in liquid helium has been measured by direct infrared absorption at pressures from zero to the solidification pressure and at temperatures from 1.3 to 4.2 K. At 1.3 K the 1s-1p splitting varies from 0.102 eV at P = 0 to 0.227 eV at P = 25 atm. At intermediate pressure a simple spherical-square-well model calculation fits the measured splittings within a few percent if the surface tension is taken to be independent of pressure. This model, when extended to allow for dilation and elongation of bubbles trapped on vorticity and dilation of rapidly drifting bubbles, agrees well with the observed transition energies at all pressures. The measured linewidths are larger by at least a factor of 2 than those calculated, which may indicate heating of rapidly drifting bubbles.