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 under stood if a specific contribution to the pair polarizability due to covalent contribution to interatomic interaction is taken into account. Such a resu lt is important because it demonstrates the possibility to use Raman spectr oscopy in order to study the nature of the short range interaction in mercu ry and presumably in all divalent metal pairs.