Technical Physics Letters
Spin exchange rate constant for collisions of metastable helium atoms with rubidium atoms
Sergei P. Dmitriev, N. A. Dovator, Victor A. Kartoshkin
Abstract
The spin exchange rate constant C se in the He(23S1)-Rb(52S1/2) system has been measured for the first time in experiments on the optical orientation of metastable helium atoms in the presence of rubidium atoms. In the temperature interval T = 293–348 K, this value is C se = (1.8 ± 0.4) × 10−9 cm3 s−1. The chemiionization rate constant, which has been simultaneously measured in collisions of these particles, is C ci = (3.1 ± 0.6) × 10−9 cm3 s−1.