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Modern spectroscopy
261
V&ational Spectroscopy, 4 (1993) 261-262 Ekevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam
BOOK REVIEWS
J. Michael Hollas, Moa!em Spectroscopy, 2nd edn., Wiley, Chichester, 1992 (ISBN o-471-93077-6, Price f14.50/US$32.95; ISBN o-471-93076-8 (cloth), Price .E39.5O/US$88.95). 432 pp. MO&m Spectroscopy has been written as an up-to-date text intended for use in upper level undergraduate and graduate courses in chemistry or physics. It follows the organization of Hollas’ High Resolution Spectroscopy, and was written to make the subject matter of the latter book accessible to a student audience. In this second edition, published only five years after the appearance of the first edition, Hollas has added material on newly developed areas or subjects that became more important to the curriculum in the intervening time. This material includes concepts, such as an expanded development of the use of Fourier transform in spectroscopy, techniques, such as supersonic jet spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and instrumentation, such as the titanium-sapphire laser. I appreciate the way in which the student is often challenged to look further into some aspects. For example, on p. 61, in a discussion of the reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy of CO adsorbed on a copper surface, it is mentioned that one may use the spectrum to distinguish the orientation of the adsorbate. A student motivated to search out the reason for this behaviour would learn a bit more about the physics and chemistry of this system. Shortly later (p. 74) the difference in the odor of the (+) and (-1 enantiomers of carvone is mentioned -again an idea that could provoke further study. This brings me to one of the deficiencies of the book. A good text is often used also as a basic reference to the subject matter. However, in the present case, material presumably taken from original research publications is often presented without attribution. Yet in other instances, refer0924-2031/93/$06.00
ences are included in captions or given as footnotes, usually to publications not involving Dr. Hollas. One may speculate that the author chose not to reference his own work for modesty’s sake, but this is not a help to the reader who is seeking more information on the subject. Another area where references could be helpful is for concepts or devices associated with individual’s names: Grotrian diagram, Deslandres table, Walsh diagram, Koopmans’ theorem, Brewster’s angle. A further reason to wish for references is that there are many numerical/ typographical errors in the book, so much so that a reader wishing to make use of a given fact would want to check it with the original reference. For example, the ‘fundamental vibrational wavenumbers for CO,‘, given on p. 338, are the harmonic wavenumbers; the former term usually refers to the band origins. A more surprising case is that the value given on p. 283 for the harmonic wavenumber of the ground state of H,, 3115 cm-‘, is actually that of the D, isotopic species. This error is reproduced from the first edition, and has in fact been carried over from High Resolution Spectroscopy!
In the discussion of the hyper Raman spectrum of ethane (pp. 346-3471, Fig. 9.19 includes a band labeled ‘vg + vs’ and another labeled ‘vz + V,‘, a notation that is usually used to indicate combination bands. However, here these labels are used to indicate that these bands are due to contributions from two fundamental transitions. Moreover, the mode numbering does not follow the accepted convention, presented on p. 87. It turns out that the conventional mode numbering is in fact used in the original article, and the original figure does not include the labels, which have been added to the figure shown here. (Also, the name of the first author is misspelled in the figure caption -again reproduced from the first edition.)
0 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved
V&ational Spectroscopy, 4 (1993) 261-262 Ekevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam
BOOK REVIEWS
J. Michael Hollas, Moa!em Spectroscopy, 2nd edn., Wiley, Chichester, 1992 (ISBN o-471-93077-6, Price f14.50/US$32.95; ISBN o-471-93076-8 (cloth), Price .E39.5O/US$88.95). 432 pp. MO&m Spectroscopy has been written as an up-to-date text intended for use in upper level undergraduate and graduate courses in chemistry or physics. It follows the organization of Hollas’ High Resolution Spectroscopy, and was written to make the subject matter of the latter book accessible to a student audience. In this second edition, published only five years after the appearance of the first edition, Hollas has added material on newly developed areas or subjects that became more important to the curriculum in the intervening time. This material includes concepts, such as an expanded development of the use of Fourier transform in spectroscopy, techniques, such as supersonic jet spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and instrumentation, such as the titanium-sapphire laser. I appreciate the way in which the student is often challenged to look further into some aspects. For example, on p. 61, in a discussion of the reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy of CO adsorbed on a copper surface, it is mentioned that one may use the spectrum to distinguish the orientation of the adsorbate. A student motivated to search out the reason for this behaviour would learn a bit more about the physics and chemistry of this system. Shortly later (p. 74) the difference in the odor of the (+) and (-1 enantiomers of carvone is mentioned -again an idea that could provoke further study. This brings me to one of the deficiencies of the book. A good text is often used also as a basic reference to the subject matter. However, in the present case, material presumably taken from original research publications is often presented without attribution. Yet in other instances, refer0924-2031/93/$06.00
ences are included in captions or given as footnotes, usually to publications not involving Dr. Hollas. One may speculate that the author chose not to reference his own work for modesty’s sake, but this is not a help to the reader who is seeking more information on the subject. Another area where references could be helpful is for concepts or devices associated with individual’s names: Grotrian diagram, Deslandres table, Walsh diagram, Koopmans’ theorem, Brewster’s angle. A further reason to wish for references is that there are many numerical/ typographical errors in the book, so much so that a reader wishing to make use of a given fact would want to check it with the original reference. For example, the ‘fundamental vibrational wavenumbers for CO,‘, given on p. 338, are the harmonic wavenumbers; the former term usually refers to the band origins. A more surprising case is that the value given on p. 283 for the harmonic wavenumber of the ground state of H,, 3115 cm-‘, is actually that of the D, isotopic species. This error is reproduced from the first edition, and has in fact been carried over from High Resolution Spectroscopy!
In the discussion of the hyper Raman spectrum of ethane (pp. 346-3471, Fig. 9.19 includes a band labeled ‘vg + vs’ and another labeled ‘vz + V,‘, a notation that is usually used to indicate combination bands. However, here these labels are used to indicate that these bands are due to contributions from two fundamental transitions. Moreover, the mode numbering does not follow the accepted convention, presented on p. 87. It turns out that the conventional mode numbering is in fact used in the original article, and the original figure does not include the labels, which have been added to the figure shown here. (Also, the name of the first author is misspelled in the figure caption -again reproduced from the first edition.)
0 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved