absorption band

American  

noun

Physics.

1. a dark band in the absorption spectrum of a substance, corresponding to a range of wavelengths for which the substance absorbs more strongly than at adjacent wavelengths.

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Etymology

Origin of absorption band

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

For many applications, a narrow absorption band may be desirable.

From Nature • Dec. 11, 2012

Then Dr. Sinton hitched a supersensitive infra-red detector to Harvard's 61-in. telescope and looked for the same absorption band in sunlight reflected from Mars.

From Time Magazine Archive

His first step was to look for this absorption band in infra-red light reflected from dry leaves, lichens and mosses, which are made almost entirely of carbon-hydrogen compounds.

From Time Magazine Archive

Only very thin layers are sufficiently transparent to show the dispersion near or within an absorption band, and a large refracting angle is not required, the dispersion usually being very considerable.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 5 "Dinard" to "Dodsworth" by Various

If we now add a little ammonium sulphide to this solution, we get the spectrum of reduced hæmoglobin, which is a single broad absorption band situated in the interval between the preceding oxyhæmoglobin bands.

From Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology by Robertson, W. G. Aitchison (William George Aitchison )