Collision induced Raman scattering as a probe of covalent bonding in mercury diatoms

We show that collision induced Raman spectra of mercury vapors can be understood if a specific contribution to the pair polarizability due to covalent contribution to interatomic interaction is taken into account. Such a result is important because it demonstrates the possibility to use Raman spectroscopy in order to study the nature of the short range interaction in mercury and presumably in all divalent metal pairs.