spectral line

noun

Optics.

1. a line in a spectrum due to the absorption or emission of light at a discrete frequency.

spectral line

1. An isolated bright or dark line in a spectrograph produced by emission or absorption of light of a single wavelength, generally corresponding to a specific shift in the energy of an electron moving from one orbital to another.

Word History and Origins

Origin of spectral line¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

Theoretical modeling suggested kilonovas should produce tellurium, but the detection of a spectral line by the James Webb Space Telescope provided experimental evidence.

Read more on Science Daily

A spectral line is a dark or bright line within a continuous spectrum.

Read more on Science Daily

But the researchers didn’t observe phosphine’s spectral line.

Read more on Scientific American

An example of a distinct technological signal would be a spectral line with a puzzling radiation frequency that does not correspond to any known atomic or molecular transition.

Read more on Scientific American

An unidentified spectral line can be produced artificially by tunable lasers, like the free-electron lasers that our civilization developed to generate bright emission centered on a single frequency that could range from microwaves through terahertz radiation, to infrared, visible, ultraviolet or even x-rays.

Read more on Scientific American