The excitation of the 6 1P1 and 6 3P0,1,2 states of mercury by electron impact

Abstract

The mercury atom is treated as a two-electron system with the orbitals determined using the Coulomb approximation, and intermediate-coupling wave functions are employed which allow for the spin-orbit interaction of the 6p electron of the 6 ¹P₁ and 6 ³P₁ states of mercury. The oscillator strengths of the 6 ¹P₁ -> 6 ¹S₀ 1850 Angstrom line and the 6 ³P₁ -> 6 ¹S₀ 2537 Angstrom line are calculated to be 1.17 and 0.037, respectively, which are in very good agreement with the experimentally determined values. The Ochkur approximation is then used to calculate the cross sections for the excitation of the 6 ¹P₁ and 6 ³P_0,1,2 states of mercury by electron impact. Finally these excitation cross sections are employed to evaluate the percentage polarizations of the 2537 Angstrom and 1850 Angstrom lines of mercury excited by incident electrons.