Radiative lifetimes and collisional deactivation rate constants of excited Ne(2p 5 3p) states

Abstract

The radiative decay and collisional deactivation of eight of the ten neutral atomic neon (2p ⁵ 3p) levels have been studied. Neon metastable atoms were generated by a hollow‐cathode discharge in a flowing afterglow apparatus and were optically pumped by a pulsed tunable dye laser to selected p states; the decay rates then were determined as a function of neon pressure from 1–8 Torr by analyzing the decay of spontaneous emission from the excited level. The radiative lifetimes of these eight p states have been measured with an uncertainty of ±3%. These lifetimes were combined with the radiative branching ratios from a given p level to assign absolute transition probabilities for the Ne(3p–3s) transitions. Two‐body deactivation of the Ne(3p) states by collisions with ground state neon atoms have rate constants in the range of 1–5×10⁻¹¹ cm³ atom⁻¹ sec⁻¹. Intramultiplet relaxation is the dominant quenching mechanism for the p₃, p₄, p₅, p₆, p₇, and p₈ levels. However, for p₉ intermultiplet and intramultiplet relaxation are competitive and for p₂ and p₁₀ intermultiplet relaxation is dominant. The relaxation mechanism of these excited Ne(3p) states is discussed.