Inelastic collisions between excited alkali atoms and molecules. VIII. 6sup2P/sub 1/2/--6sup2P/sub 3/2/ mixing and quenching in mixtures of rubidium with Hsub2, HD, Dsub2, Nsub2, CHsub4, and CDsub4
52P1/2 ↔ 52P3/2 mixing and 52S1/2 ← 52P1/2, 2P3/2 quenching in rubidium, induced in collisions with ground state H2, HD, D2, N2, CH4, CD4, C2H4, and C2H6 molecules, have been investigated using methods of sensitized fluorescence. The rubidium vapor mixed with each of the gases was excited in turn by each component of the rubidium resonance doublet, and the resulting fluorescence, emitted at right angles to the direction of the exciting light, was resolved into the two fine-structure components whose intensity ratios were measured in relation to the gas pressure using photon counting techniques. The measurements yielded the following cross sections for the mixing and quenching collisions.For H2: Q12(2P1/2 → 2P3/2) = 11 Å2, Q21(2P1/2 ← 2P3/2) = 15 Å2, Q10(2S1/2 ← 2P1/2) = 6 Å2, Q20(2S1/2 ← 2P3/2) = 3 Å2.[Formula: see text]The mixing cross sections agree with theoretical values within an order of magnitude.
Excitation transfer between the 62P fine-structure substates in rubidium, induced in inelastic collisions with ground-state molecules, has been studied using techniques of sensitized fluorescence. Rubidium vapor in mixtures with various molecular gases was irradiated with each component of the 2P rubidium doublet in turn, and measurements of sensitized-to-resonance fluorescent intensity ratios yielded the following mixing cross sections Q12(2P1/2 → 2P3/2) and Q21(2P1/2 ← 2P3/2), as well as effective quenching cross sections Q1X(2P1/2 → 2XJ″) and Q2X(2P3/2 → 2XJ″). For collisions with H2: Q12(2P1/2 → 2P3/2) = (41 ± 5) Å2; Q21(2P1/2 ← 2P3/2) = (26 ± 3) Å2; Q1X(2P1/2 → 2XJ″) = (36 ± 9) Å2; Q2X(2P3/2 → 2XJ″) = (31 ± 8) Å2. For HD: Q12 = (42 ± 5) Å2; Q21 = (27 ± 4) Å2; Q1X = (47 ± 13) Å2; Q2X = (38 ± 10) Å2. For D2: Q12 = (42 ± 5) Å2; Q21 = (27 ± 4) Å2; Q1X = (28 ± 8) Å2; Q2X = (21 ± 7) Å2. For N2: Q12 = (107 ± 15) Å2; Q21 = (70 ± 10) Å2; Q1X = (128 ± 44) Å2; Q2X = (126 ± 33) Å2. For CH4: Q12 = (38 ± 6) Å2; Q21 = (24 ± 3) Å2; Q1X = (129 ± 41) Å2; Q2X = (114 ± 37) Å2. For CD4: Q12 = (52 ± 7) Å2; Q21 = (34 ± 5) Å2; Q1X = (82 ± 30) Å2; Q2X = (76 ± 22) Å2. An analysis of these results suggests the possibility of resonances with various molecular rotational and vibrational transitions.