Destruction of metastable hydrogen in collisions with helium

Abstract

The cross section for collisional destruction of metastable hydrogen by helium has been measured for velocities between 4 x lo6 and 5 x lo8 cm s -l . Cross sections at 43 individual velocities have been obtained by an experimental method which combines time-of-flight techniques with a new kind of gas target pressure modulation. Results are compared with the existing rather elaborate theoretical work on the problem as well as with the limited experimental information.