line broadening

line broadening, in spectroscopy, the spreading across a greater wavelength, or frequency range, of absorption lines (dark) or emission lines (bright) in the radiation received from some object. The broadening is partly an extremely small intrinsic effect produced within the absorbing or radiating atom (natural broadening) that is related to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle; it can include effects due to external conditions also, such as collisions with other atoms, motion of the radiating or absorbing body toward or away from the observer, turbulence in the radiating or absorbing medium, rotation, or electrical or magnetic fields acting on the atom. Natural broadening is always present, is the same at all wavelengths, and is very small. The other effects are of varying importance, for they depend on the conditions under which the line is formed.