On the synthesis of CdH (or CdD) from Cd 5 3P and H2 (or D2)

Abstract

The cadmium level 5 3P is excited by electron impact or by Cd resonance light, and the variations of its lifetime or of the emitted light are measured as either H2 or D2 is added. We show the existence of excitation transfers between the components of the triplet state and of a quenching which lead to the production of the hydride. The quenching cross-section from the 5 3P1 state is found to be much greater than that from the metastable 5 3P0,2 states and equal to (33 ± 5) Å2 and (16±3) Å2 for H2 and D2 respectively