Charge-Exchange Excitation in the He–Cd Laser

Abstract

Experiments are described which show a dual involvement of charge exchange and Penning ionization‐excitation processes in the helium‐cadmium laser similar to that reported earlier by the authors in the helium‐zinc ion laser. Charge exchange leads primarily to high‐lying states of Cd II in which only the outer electron is excited, whereas Penning ionization mainly leads to the production of excited ionic states involving a ``hole'' in the inner d‐shell configuration.